Missed SwanQueen Moments S6
by SwanQueenUK
Summary: A collection of sexy SwanQueen one shots all starting with a single line of dialogue from OUAT. This fic will contain one chapter for every episode of Season 6, attempting to show how many opportunities were missed on the show to make SwanQueen canon. Updated weekly.
1. 06-01 - The Saviour

A/N: We survived the hiatus! Well done to all of us! And over the past year I have somehow, miraculously, managed to write a Missed SwanQueen Moment for every single episode. This fic will therefore be updated weekly. As before, each chapter is stand-alone and will begin from a single line of dialogue from the show itself. Last night's episode didn't have as much SwanQueen in as I'd like (and too much Emma-making-out-with-Hook) and I'm afraid this chapter is smut-free. Regina is clearly still grieving Robin and Emma is with Hook (although lying to him …), so it's friendship SwanQueen, sorry!

* * *

"EMMA!"

Regina's choked sob tore through Emma's vision and she looked up at once, seeing Hyde with his fingers closed around the brunette's neck. The wand burned white-hot in her hand as she pointed it to the monster throttling her best friend.

The magic exploded into the air and Hyde was propelled backwards, landing heavily on a car twenty feet away. Regina doubled over, clutching her throat as she gasped and spluttered for breath. David and Jekyll rushed to Hyde at once, securing the handcuffs and hauling him upwards. Emma however, ran straight to Regina.

"Are you ok?" she asked, her hand on the back of the woman still struggling to breathe properly.

Regina nodded and slowly straightened up. Her neck was red, the skin angry and bruised from where Hyde had tried to crush the life out of her. Emma felt a wave of guilt wash over her and her green eyes crinkled in sympathy as she watched Regina rubbing her tender flesh.

"I'm so sorry," Emma offered.

"What happened?" Regina asked, watching as David, Jekyll, Hook, and Snow escorted Hyde into the squad car.

"I … um, I don't know," Emma admitted softly.

She thought back to those blue-grey images she had seen for the second time that day. What were they? She had no memory of the events but they felt and seemed so real. There was no way they were from her imagination, of that she was sure.

"What's wrong?" Regina frowned, forgetting her near-strangulation as she saw the confused look on Emma's face.

The blonde glanced to the man leering out of the police vehicle at her before turning to Regina.

"I saw … something."

"Where?" Regina asked, looking around.

"No, in my head," Emma amended. "It's like a memory only I don't remember it. Is that possible? Can you remember something that you've maybe been cursed to forget?"

Both women knew that Regina had had more than her fair share of experiences with memory curses but that part of her life was rarely talked about any more and Regina bristled slightly at the implication. But she answered none-the-less because if anyone in Storybrooke knew about memory potions, it was Regina Mills.

"Yes," she said. "That's what Graham was experiencing all those years ago. He had visions of his life as a huntsman and kept seeing a wolf here in town. Bits of our memories can break through, as the curse is weakened for example. But Emma, you've not been cursed to forget anything."

"How would I know if I had," Emma reasoned. "I wouldn't remember being cursed, would I?"

"No," Regina conceded but I can tell you right now that you're not suffering from a memory curse. I can … well, with my magic, I am able to sense when someone is affected by dark curses."

"Really? Can you teach me that?" Emma asked, momentarily distracted from her confusing situation. That sounded like a useful magical skill to have. Emma was always looking to brush up on her magic and her understanding of her power. The only problem was that she rarely had a moment's peace to dedicate to studying her abilities. She had somewhat resorted to learning on the job, as it were.

"Perhaps," Regina replied. "But right now I think we need to focus on more important matters. Like finding out what those images you saw were, what they mean, and where they come from. What did you see, by the way?"

Emma shrugged and began to walk back to her Sheriff's cruiser, intending to drive to the cells beneath the hospital where her father had no doubt taken Hyde. They were the most secure in Storybrooke and the only logical place to keep someone as powerful as the man they had just captured. Regina followed the blonde to the car and climbed into the passenger seat without asking. Their conversation wasn't done, after all.

"It was a fight," Emma said as she started the engine. "A sword fight. Me and … someone."

"Someone?"

"They were hooded," Emma said. "I couldn't tell who it was or even what it was. And the visions are kind of fuzzy and choppy. It's not a continuous sequence."

"Were you winning?" Regina asked.

Emma said nothing but her grip on the steering wheel tightened, the skin on her knuckles stretched white. Regina didn't need a verbal response. Emma had clearly watched herself lose in a fight to an unknown sword-wielding villain. The only problem was neither of them knew what the vision meant. Was it the past? Was it the future?

"I'm sure it means nothing," Regina offered.

Emma looked sideways at the brunette, unconvinced. She might not know exactly what those visions were but she was sure of one thing. They were real.

"I suppose I should ask my dad to help me practice sword fighting," Emma said, in a vain attempt at a joke.

"I can sword fight better than him, you know," Regina said casually.

Emma turned to look at her friend again.

"I'm sorry, what? You can sword fight?"

"I grew up in the Enchanted Forest, remember? Men and women learnt to sword fight, especially those from wealthy families. I first handled a blade when I was five. I was the under-twelves kingdom champion, in fact."

"How did I not know this?" Emma asked, with a light chuckle.

"There are many things you don't know about me, Miss Swan," Regina grinned with a wink.

Emma nodded her agreement to that statement. The two women may have been friends for a long time but they didn't get much time to just talk. And when they did begin a conversation, it was usually interrupted by some threat to the town before they really learnt anything about each other. True, they were incredibly close, but that didn't mean they both didn't have secrets from the other. Regina doubted Emma would ever learn her deepest, most private secret, especially whilst the blonde continued to run around with the one-handed wonder.

"So will you teach me to sword fight then?"

"Excuse me?" Regina asked.

"You were the under-twelves champion, right? Who better to teach me than you?"

"Um, your father?" Regina frowned. "Don't you think he'd be hurt if he knew you'd come to me for lessons rather than him?"

"Probably," Emma replied. "Which is why we won't tell him. And to be honest, what matters is that I get the best training possible, not whose feelings get hurt in the process."

They drove in silence, both thinking about what Emma's statement implied. It wasn't until they had parked in front of the hospital, below which was the cell holding Hyde, that Regina spoke.

"You think those images are a vision of the future, don't you?" she said quietly.

Emma nodded slowly, acknowledging her suspicions at last. "They must be. They feel so real and if they haven't come from my past, then there's only one other explanation. Whatever that fight is, whenever that fight is, I think it might be my last."

Regina reached over and grasped Emma's trembling hands in both her own. The skin was scorching hot, the shaking vibrating through Regina's own arms as she gripped tightly.

"I won't let that happen," she said calmly. "You are not going to die, Emma. Whoever that was under the hood, whatever led to that fight, you are not going to die. You're the saviour, right? A hero. Henry says that heroes always win. And with a bit of expert sword-play training, I'm sure you're going to defy those visions and defeat whichever evil person you are due to face."

Emma turned to Regina, tears streaming down her face. Regina reached up and wiped them gently away. She hated seeing Emma cry. It broke her heart. And the blonde had been crying too much recently, first as the Dark One, then in the Underworld. Her friend deserved some happiness in her life, even if she seemed to be looking to Hook to give that to her. Regina forced her mind away from Emma's boyfriend and tried to smile reassuringly.

"You're going to be just fine," she said. "I promise."

Emma nodded and wiped her face. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to unload all this onto you. I just don't have anyone else I can talk to about it."

"What about Hook?" Regina asked.

Emma said nothing. She simply shook her head.

"Well you can talk to me. Any time," Regina assured the blonde. "And we can start those lessons whenever you're ready."

"Now?" Emma asked. Regina's eyebrows raised. "Well, after I go to see Hyde and ask him what he knows about these visions. I don't know why but I think he has something to do with them. Or at least knows why they've started. I suspect it's got something to do with that blimp which arrived today."

"Be careful," Regina advised. "That Hyde is a slippery fellow. Don't let him cloud your judgement. You have good instincts, Emma, use them."

"I will," Emma said. "And as soon as I'm done, can we go to your vault and get started?"

"Of course," Regina nodded. "I'll meet you there."

Emma smiled her thanks and the two women got out of the car. Regina watched until Emma disappeared into the building before turning towards the forest, within which her family mausoleum lay. She said a silent prayer that there wouldn't be another name added to the plaque inside. Robin's carving had been completed the week before. She didn't think she could handle adding Emma's name to the list.


	2. 06-02 - A Bitter Draught

A/N: So this week's episode was awesome because there was so much Regina (yay!) but sorely lacking in SwanQueen moments. In fact, there were hardly any lines spoken between our two lovely ladies and none when they were alone. I really, really want to write hot sex again but it's just not meant to be … yet.

* * *

"Emma, are you ok?" Regina asked, alarmed as the blonde clutched her violently trembling wrist.

"Fine," Emma mumbled, dropping her arm and taking a gulp of tea.

"No, you're not," Snow frowned. "What just happened?"

"Nothing," Emma snapped. "Go back to what the Evil Queen said at the docks. What did she say when you ran at her, Regina?"

Regina blushed. She glanced at Snow who was looking away too. Clearly she had heard the lewd comment her counterpart had drawled at her.

"Um, she said … some stuff," Regina shrugged. "Nothing specific."

"You're lying," Emma said, her eyes narrowed.

"So are you," Regina shot back. "What's wrong with your hand?"

"I told you, I'm fine," Emma all but shouted.

Snow stood up from the booth and tugged Emma to her feet by her wrist. "Not here," she said, looking around the busy diner in which every pair of eyes were now trained on the three women.

Regina followed mother and daughter from the restaurant and out into the cool autumnal air. Snow walked ahead, leading the way towards Emma's house, the one she had acquired as the Dark One. She still lived there and it was the only place in town the three of them were unlikely to be disturbed. Snow got the feeling it was going to be a long conversation.

Emma hung back a little, allowing her mother to stride ahead and eventually Regina fell into step beside her.

"Do you get the feeling we're being marched to the principal's office?" Emma whispered.

"I wouldn't know," Regina replied cooly. "I was home schooled, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Emma mused. "Well as someone who spent most of tenth grade in or outside the principal's office, I can tell you I'm getting major flashbacks."

Regina stopped walking and Emma did too. Snow continued, oblivious to the loss of her followers.

"Seriously? You're just going to pretend we didn't both lie to each other and instead make jokes about your school days?" Regina asked. "I thought heroes worked together. How are we supposed to do that if you're not telling us the problem? What's going on Emma? What are you running away from?"

Emma folded her arms. "What did you lie about?" she asked, using Regina's own admittance against her.

The brunette chuckled. "It was nothing bad," she said. "Just embarrassing, I suppose."

"Embarrassing?" Emma frowned. "Why? What did the Evil Queen say?"

Regina sighed. "She said we like it rough, ok?"

Emma's eyes widened and her pale skin flushed a deep red at the thought. She wasn't sure if it was the thought of Regina having sex or of Regina having kinky sexy. It was probably the latter, she surmised. Thoughts of the brunette having sex were not exactly new to her; over the years she'd grown rather adept at hiding her wanton desire around Regina. But knowing Regina, or at least her Evil Queen side, liked her sex a little rougher … Emma squeezed her thighs together.

"Oh, right," she stammered. "Cool."

Regina couldn't help but laugh. The deep, throaty sound did not help and Emma shifted uncomfortably on the stop.

"Dear, you look anything but cool," Regina teased. "Don't worry, if you ever get caught in a compromising position with her, our safe word is 'poison'. I suspect she'll still respond."

Emma squeaked. "Com-compromising position?"

"Hey, I don't know what her plans are for this town!" Regina defended. "All I do know is that back in the Enchanted Forest you would have been just our type."

Emma's jaw dropped. It was Regina's turn to blush as her brain finally caught up with her mouth. She stammered for a moment before finally forming coherent words.

"I didn't mean that," she said at last. "I don't mean you're my type or anything."

"You were with women?" Emma asked, seemingly ignoring Regina's previous statement.

"Um, yeah," Regina nodded. "Sexuality is much more fluid in the Enchanted Forest. Most people were with both men and women at some point in their lives."

"Oh," Emma said, wondering why her parents had never told her that. And then she realised she probably didn't want to know about their sexual history anyway.

There was a long silence, neither woman realising that Snow had long since disappeared from the street and would soon, presumably, realise they were missing.

"So … what was the shaking about?" Regina asked.

Emma wrenched her mind away from images of an etherial Regina intwined with a faceless blonde woman and blinked at the Regina before her.

"What shaking?" she asked, confused.

Regina huffed and folded her arms. "Seriously? I tell you that me and my evil twin think you're hot and you're not even going to tell me what's been going on with you."

"You think I'm hot?"

"Not the point, Emma," Regina growled.

"But you do think I'm hot," Emma repeated.

"Yes, you're hot," Regina sighed. "Why? Do you not hear that enough from the pirate or something?"

Emma flinched slightly at the bite in Regina's tone. "Not really," she admitted. "He's already told me he prefers brunettes. Milah was a brunette and from what I can tell, he's not that bothered about how I look. I caught him googling breast enhancement surgery last week." She glanced down at her own, modest chest. Regina's eyes lowered too. "And he's told me to use more eyeliner."

"Have you told him to use less," Regina spat, anger seething inside her.

How dare that man, that worthless, spineless, pathetic excuse for a man, criticise Emma in any way? She was worth a hundred of him. She deserved a hundred times better than him. Regina had assumed the two of them were together because he treated her well behind closed doors but that didn't appear to be the case. In fact, now she couldn't understand why on earth Emma was still with the smelly pirate.

"He doesn't like it when I comment on how he looks," Emma sighed.

"But it's ok for him to criticise you?" Regina said, her voice dangerous.

"Well, no but -."

"Don't make excuses, Emma," Regina interrupted. "You're worth more than that. You deserve more than that. Every woman should be told she's beautiful by someone who believes in and see the beauty of that person."

"That's not Hook's style," Emma shrugged.

"Then I'll tell you," Regina said, stepping forwards and cupping Emma's cheek.

Both women froze at that moment, Emma with surprise at the contact and Regina as her brain started screaming at her arm which had risen to Emma's face without order. The touch had simply been … instinctive.

"Regina?" Emma said, her voice little more than a whisper.

"You're beautiful," the brunette said quietly, her thumb rubbing backwards and forwards over the skin of Emma's cheek. "You're beautiful, Emma."

Green eyes sparkled at the earnest words but just as she was about to speak, a shout from the far end of the street made both women jump apart.

"Are you guys coming or what?" Snow called.

Regina stared at her hand which had just been touching Emma and the blonde was now cupping her own cheek, feeling the skin burning from being in contact with the brunette.

"Yeah, we'll be right there," Regina called back before she looked at Emma again. "Are you ok?"

Emma nodded slowly, her hand finally falling from her face. Regina offered her a small smile; she had never seen the blonde look quite so unsure of herself. Emma shouldn't ever doubt her beauty, Regina thought, nor should she be with a man who makes her doubt it.

"We'd better go," Regina said after another pause. "Your mother seems to think whatever you need to tell us is best done in private."

"She's right," Emma said grimly.

"Come on then," Regina said, resuming her walk with Emma by her side. "Let's go and solve whatever problem you're keeping secret from us all."


	3. 06-03 - The Other Shoe

A/N: No Emma and Regina scenes but we were blessed with an Emma and the Evil Queen scene. Which of course I used extreme artistic license to create this smut for you. NSFW. Rating has changed to M.

* * *

"Am I?" asked the Evil Queen, cocking her head to one side. "Or am I the part that is honest about myself. You see, Regina never had her happy ending because she's never been strong enough to let her story run it's course. I won't make that mistake. For myself or our new arrivals."

"What story?" Emma spat. "Killing my mother and father?"

The Evil Queen let out a bark of laughter. "Oh my dear, we moved on from that long ago. No, my story, my happy ending, involves something far more enjoyable. For the both of us," she added, a glint in her eye.

"What are you talking about?" Emma frowned. "You're not here to kill my parents?"

"No," the Evil Queen said simply. "I spent far too long in the Enchanted Forest wasting my time on destroying that insipid pair. Although I suppose my new happy ending won't exactly thrill them."

"And what is this new happy ending?" Emma asked, hoping to glean a clue as to the newcomer's plans.

"Why you are, my dear," the Evil Queen said with a smile, stepping closer to Emma.

Completely stunned, the blonde stayed rooted to the spot, unable to move. Hook however, had no such problem. He darted past Emma and aimed his silver weapon at the former queen. But Regina merely waved her hand and the man disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Emma didn't even seem to notice; she was just staring at the Evil Queen.

"Mom?" came the timid voice from behind the pair.

The Evil Queen peered by the static blonde and smiled at their son.

"Henry," she said, stalking past Emma and walking towards him. He backed away, eyes narrowed. She stopped reluctantly in her step, hands on her hips. "I just need to talk to Emma for a while, ok?" she said, pulling a ten dollar bill from her cleavage. "Go and buy yourself some ice cream."

"I'm not leaving you alone with her," Henry said, looking towards Emma who still hadn't moved.

"Henry, please," the Evil Queen said. "I promise you I won't hurt her. But we do need to talk. Just the two of us."

Henry looked sceptical but he couldn't help but see his mother reflected in those brown eyes before him. What the Evil Queen had said was true: she had raised him for fifteen years. He'd gone from one mother to three because whatever way he looked at it, this woman who had been lying dormant inside Regina for all those years had been there every step of the way of his childhood.

"Ok," Henry said. "I'll be back in half an hour."

"Good boy," the Evil Queen said, sounding so much like Regina that if it wasn't for the elaborate dress and hair, Henry would have been convinced he was standing before his other mother.

Without waiting for Henry to leave, the Evil Queen walked back to Emma and rounded the blonde. Emma blinked as the woman reappeared, jolting from her reverie. She whipped around and noticed both Hook and Henry's absence for the first time.

"Where are they?" she asked, spinning back to glower at the Evil Queen.

"We needed to talk," she replied simply. "Alone."

"What about?" Emma asked, walking down to the end of the docks. The Evil Queen followed and waited until the blonde had slumped onto an old bench before beginning, sitting down beside the younger woman.

"When I was trapped in Regina, I lost a little bit of power over her every day. At first I didn't notice but as soon as Henry came into her life, I could feel my control slipping away. And then you arrived. I got some of it back. That fire, that passion, that aggression. And we loved it. We had a worthy enemy once more. But then Regina started to change again and I couldn't stop it. You changed her, Emma. You made her force me so far back inside her soul I was just a glimmer which flickered late at night when her defences against me were down."

"Good," Emma spat. "What's your point?"

"I may not have had control over Regina but I was still there. I was watching, listening, waiting. And when I saw the two of you together, I tried so hard to regain control, to make Regina reach out and take her happy ending, but I couldn't. She lost it. She lost you. And now I'm going to take it back."

Emma swallowed thickly. She realised she had been stupid to overlook how the Evil Queen had been privy to every moment of Regina's life for the past five years. Of course she was going to bring that night up. After all those months, after they had promised never to speak of it again …

"What do you want?"

"It's not just me," the Evil Queen said. "It's both of us. Regina's just too scared to admit it."

"What do you want?" Emma repeated.

"You."

The simple word seemed to echo off the docks, bouncing away over the sparkling surface of the crystalline sea. Emma stared into those bright brown eyes before her, so familiar and yet so different to her Regina's eyes. Her Regina.

"We can't," Emma said, her voice cracking.

"Why not?" the Evil Queen asked, sliding closer on the bench.

"Hook," Emma said, her voice little more than a whisper.

"It didn't stop you before," the Evil Queen pointed out. "Where was the pirate when you were pounding your fingers in and out of Regina's cunt, her mouth covering your own sex as you came in her mouth?" Emma swallowed thickly at the words. "Did you ever tell him? Did you ever admit that the best night of your life was with the other mother of your son?"

"Of course not," Emma said, standing up and walking away, her heart racing.

She couldn't do this. She couldn't have this conversation, not again. She had said no to Regina before. She had walked away from what they so clearly shared between them. She didn't know if she was strong enough to do it again. A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She spun around. The Evil Queen was inches from her.

"Why did you really run that night?" the Evil Queen murmured. "Why did you leave without even a note? She cried, you know, when she woke up to find you gone. We both did."

The admittance of the Evil Queen showing weakness surprised Emma. She thought Regina's lesser half was incapable of such a human emotion. Apparently not. And as she gazed into those familiar brown eyes, Emma knew the words the Evil Queen were speaking were true.

"It would never have worked," Emma said finally. "Me and Regina, it wouldn't have worked. We're too … similar? Different? I don't even know. All I was sure of was that whatever we had between us was too powerful, too deep for us to play with. It was better, safer, for me to go back to Hook. And you had Robin."

"Regina had Robin," the Evil Queen corrected quickly. "I tried as hard as possible from my little world inside Regina to stop that pathetic romance. No, I never had Robin. Nor did I ever want him. I only wanted you."

She reached out, cupping Emma's cheek and breathing a sigh of relief when the blonde didn't pull away. Emma's eyes sparkled, her mind overwhelmed with what she was hearing. It couldn't be true. The Evil Queen couldn't possibly love her, not the way she loved Regina. And it was Regina whom Emma loved, not the Evil Queen, the blonde reminded herself.

"Don't overthink this, Emma," the Evil Queen said. "True Love requires no explanation. It follows no laws. It knows no bounds. That's why I love you just as much as Regina does. We both want you, Emma. You're both our happy endings."

She felt her self-control crumble at those words. Emma surged forwards, crashing her lips against the Evil Queen's in a bruising kiss. She wrapped her arms around the brunette, feeling the plush fabric against her fingers and drawing her even closer. Surprisingly, she was allowed to dominate the kiss, and she pushed her tongue inside the Evil Queen's mouth, plundering it as she drank in the woman before her. It was Regina and yet not Regina. The same taste, the same feel, and yet … different. She staggered backwards, eyes wide.

"You're not Regina," Emma said, panting hard.

"Yes I am," the Evil Queen said. "I'm a part of her, remember? You love us both, don't you?"

"I … I don't know," Emma admitted, wiping the traces of lipstick from her mouth.

"Emma," the Evil Queen said, stepping back towards the blonde. "You do know. You know exactly what this is."

The next kiss was slower, softer, more like the final kiss Emma and Regina had shared all those months ago before the brunette fell asleep and the blonde had slunk away, confused and guilty. But there was no backing away this time. She sensed the magic wrap itself around the pair and when she opened her eyes she found herself in an unfamiliar room.

"Where are we?" she mumbled against the Evil Queen's lips.

"Zelena's cottage," came the reply as Emma was pushed back onto a bed and the Evil Queen straddled her.

"Zelena?" Emma frowned just as the Evil Queen waved her hand at the door and performed a silencing spell.

"Yes," the brunette nodded. "Any more questions or can we -?"

Emma pulled the plump lips back towards her, too desperate to feel Regina's body against her own once more to ask why the Evil Queen was at her half-sister's house. Her fingers reached for the corset strings at the back of the elaborate dress and it took her several minutes to untangle them, their mouths working against one another the entire time. Eventually the material loosened, releasing the pert breasts they had encased so they dangled down before Emma. She craned her neck up, capturing a nipple in her mouth and suckling lightly. The Evil Queen cried out, her back arching. It appeared Regina and her twin shared the same stimulants in bed.

Emma ripped the dress from the Evil Queen's body and her breath hitched at the garter set she was left with. Kiss swollen lips smirked at the blonde's open-mouthed reaction and, waving a hand, Emma's clothes vanished.

"Hey!" Emma protested. "Not fair."

She didn't really care however, her sex too hot and desperate for her to be too displeased about not having been carefully undressed. Any reproach disappeared at once as the Evil Queen slunk down her body and settled between her spread thighs.

"I don't do this for just anyone, unlike my dear Regina," the Evil Queen said, looking up at Emma from where she lay.

Emma was about to answer but the tongue swiping through her folds rendered her incoherent. She cried out and arched off the bed, her fingers flying to bury themselves in the Evil Queen's elaborate hair style. The tongue licked again; longer, firmer. Emma shuddered in delight, her drenched sex flooded with wetness as the Evil Queen began to pleasure her. Tight little circles around her clit followed by long, slow licks. The tip of her tongue, pushed deep inside Emma's clenching channel, drinking up the juices oozing from her centre. Emma thrashed on the bed, her body pushed to its peak within minutes. When she came, Regina's name echoed around the room. The Evil Queen didn't seem to mind, she just lapped gently at the spent cunt until the fingers in her hair tightened, encouraging her to return to Emma's mouth.

Their kiss was fiery, Emma's essence on both their tongues spurring each of them onwards. The Evil Queen let out a little squeak as Emma flipped them, her eyebrow raised.

"You're topping me?" the Evil Queen asked as Emma's hands began to undo her garters.

"You're letting me top you?" Emma countered, winking.

The Evil Queen decided she didn't care, not when Emma's fingers slammed into her waiting sex seconds later. No one had ever dared treat her body like this before. Her lovers in the Enchanted Forest had all been either insipid or controlled by her. Graham had been controlled too and Robin, well, Robin hadn't been much in the bedroom department.

But Emma knew what she was doing. She knew what the Evil Queen wanted and she wasn't afraid to push the boundaries. Her fingers pumped steadily, two becoming three as Emma's mouth dropped to a taut nipple. It was caught between her teeth, nibbled, worried, tortured deliciously. The Evil Queen canted her hips, forcing Emma's fingers deeper as the blonde switched to the other breast.

A fourth finger stretched her wider, making her hiss in delight and pain. She loved having her body pushed to the limit. And Emma clearly liked testing those limits. She could tell the blonde wasn't holding back, not like that one night she had shared with Regina all those months ago. Now, Emma was giving her everything.

She gasped and shuddered when Emma suddenly moved her mouth to her clit, teeth trapping it hard as her fingers pounded even faster. The Evil Queen writhed on the bed, her back arched as her orgasm swept over her body. Emma never let up, never relented, as she watched the brunette shudder beautifully to her climax. When she collapsed back on the bed, Emma was on top of her in seconds, kissing her furiously.

"I do love you," she said, eyes shining with tears. "I do love you. And Regina. I love you both."

"And we love you," the Evil Queen said. "We just have to make my other half understand that you are her happy ending."

"She doesn't want this?" Emma asked, rolling off the brunette and settling beside her, pulling the blankets over their sweaty bodies.

"You broke her heart, Emma," the Evil Queen said quietly. "You broke our heart."

Emma felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't meant to hurt Regina. That was why she had left that night. It seemed better for everyone, herself, Regina, Hook, and Robin, for nothing more to happen. She had never considered how her disappearance really affected the brunette.

"But you forgave me," Emma said slowly. "So Regina can too?"

"I hope so," the Evil Queen said. "And when she does, I'll be able to return to where I belong."

"And where's that?" Emma asked, wrapping an arm around the Evil Queen's waist.

"Inside Regina," the Evil Queen said. "I don't want to be in this world, Emma. Not physically at least. I was happy where I was. All I want to do in my own body is ensure the two of you get together. Once that mission is complete, I'm happy to disappear back into my better half."

"Better half?" Emma asked, a teasing glint in her eye.

The Evil Queen laughed. "Morally better, perhaps. But I'm the one who knows what's best for us."

"And what's that?" Emma said.

"You."

* * *

A/N: OMG but what if this had actually happened?


	4. 06-04 - Strange Case

A/N: dudes, there are not enough SwanQueen scenes in these episodes! But the one we got was awesome. And I'm fairly sure enough exposure to Lana's sexy Evil Queen laugh could impregnate me …

* * *

"You're stronger than Jekyll," Emma said, refusing to believe the alternative possibility the brunette was alluding.

"Maybe, but if I'm not …," Regina hesitated, stepping towards the younger woman. "Back in Camelot, when you were the Dark One, you said you trusted me to do what it would take to keep your family safe. I need you to promise me you'll do the same thing if it comes to that."

"Regina, no," Emma said, stepping away from her friend. "Don't ask me to do that."

"You asked me," Regina snapped. "What's the difference?"

"The difference is I was the Dark One and I didn't have complete control over myself," Emma defended. "You do."

"We thought Jekyll did," Regina pointed out, gesturing up to the harbour where the two bodies of what had once been one man lay side by side. "We thought he was good, Emma, for weeks. I've been good for weeks too. What if … what if that darkness pushes its way forwards again? And what if I'm not strong enough to resist it this time?"

"Do you feel it?" Emma asked. "Back in New York you said you could feel the Evil Queen inside you, hating the fact that you were doing good. Do you still feel that? That war against your instincts?"

Regina bit her lip, considering the blonde's question. It was true. Ever since she had become a hero, ever since she had started to do good, she could feel her former self raging away inside her whenever she and Emma and the rest of the hero clan battled the dark forces. There were even times when she had felt a sudden rush of elation when the villains gained the upper hand before her good side beat the emotion back down. But since she had split herself? Since she had forced the Evil Queen from her body? She realised with a jolt that the angry feelings she had once fought to keep at bay had completely evaporated.

"No," she admitted quietly. "But that doesn't mean it can't come back."

"Yes, it does," Emma said, stepping closer to Regina. "You're stronger than that, Regina. Jekyll was weak. Even as a good guy he was pretty pathetic. I mean, talk about a nerdy science geek with no social skills."

"Don't be mean to him just because you didn't understand his experiments," Regina huffed, ignoring the blonde's attempt at a joke. "And it's not like I'm exactly comfortable socially either."

"You're better than you used to be," Emma grinned. "Much less sassy."

"Oh I can be sassy, Miss Swan," Regina said, a challenging glint in her eye. "But that's not the point here. The point is that, regardless of what you think, we have to face the very real possibility that I might at any given moment in the future regress into my former self. When that happens, we cannot risk the chance of there being two Evil Queens running around Storybrooke, both trying to kill Snow and Charming and … you."

"You'd never kill me," Emma said at once.

"I spent a year trying to kill you," Regina deadpanned.

Emma opened her mouth to answer but couldn't think of the right response so snapped it shut again. Regina sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She had cut it on her return to Storybrooke, needing a fresh start. Emma's eyes followed the movement.

"Look," Regina said at last. "I'm going to fight whatever potential for darkness is in me as hard as I can, you know that. But in case I'm not successful, in case I fail, I need you to promise me you will do whatever it takes to keep yourself and your family safe. I agreed to do this for you in Camelot, Emma. I need you to do it for me here today. You're the only person I trust to follow through with whatever may need to be done."

Emma's defiant eyes looked a little watery for a moment as she gazed at her best friend. But then she gave a short nod, a simple acknowledgement that she understood her duties. Without another word, she turned and walked back up to where her husband and Hook were preparing to transport the two bodies, hoping against hope that she would never be walking towards two lifeless Reginas.


	5. 06-05 - Street Rats

A/N: firstly, the Evil Queen and Zelena's spa day was fucking awesome! I'm hoping that was Lana's own idea - I'm sure she mentioned that the Evil Queen needed some pampering once! Also this is NSFW because I wanted it to be!

* * *

"How's Henry?" Regina asked. Emma looked away, not wanting to think about how her revelation had affected their son. "How are you?" Regina furthered, her eyes crinkling with concern.

'How do you think I am?" Emma snapped.

Regina's eyebrows rose. But she couldn't blame the blonde for her anger. She'd be angry too if she found out her best friend was destined to kill her.

"We'll find a way, Emma," Regina offered. "We always do."

"And what if we don't?" Emma replied, voicing her own fears to the person she trusted the most in the world. "What if we can't stop fate? What if everything plays out exactly as my vision suggests? What then?"

"What if I kill you, you mean?" Regina said, placing the potion down on her workbench and walking to the far end of her vault, hands running through her hair.

"It might not be you," Emma offered, convincing no one.

"It's me in one form or the other," Regina retorted. "Either it's me and I've reverted to whom I once was or it's the Evil Queen herself. Either way Henry's going to watch one of his mother's kill his other mother."

"No," Emma said firmly. "The Evil Queen is not Henry's mother."

"But I am," Regina bit back. "If I do succumb to the darkness again, if I do become evil once more, if … if I do kill you, I'll still be Henry's mother. He'll never forgive me. He'll hate me forever."

"Then let's make sure that doesn't happen," Emma said. "Let's make sure it's not you under that cloak."

"How?" Regina frowned.

Emma sighed and sat down heavily on the lid of a closed trunk propped against the wall. She didn't know. She had no idea how on earth she was supposed to evade her fate. After all, if this was a vision of the future, there was no way she could avoid it. Except …

"What made you give into the darkness last time?" Emma asked, looking up at her best friend.

Regina frowned. "Daniel's death," she answered. "You know that."

"Right, losing a true love," Emma nodded. "But when Robin died you didn't turn evil again. Doesn't that mean you're strong enough to resist now?"

Regina bit her lip. She wished she could agree with Emma's logic but ever since Robin's death, she had been questioning exactly that herself. And, reluctantly, she had come up with the answer.

"No," she said quietly. "No, Robin wasn't my true love."

The admission out loud for the first time echoed around the stone vault. She hated how the words sounded, a betrayal of her deceased lover which he was bound to have overheard from whichever realm his departed soul had come to rest.

"He wasn't?" Emma frowned. "How do you know that?"

Regina shrugged, moved to sit down on another chest opposite Emma and leaned back against the cool stone, her eyes closed.

"I've felt the power of true love," she said softly. "I knew that wasn't what we shared. Love, perhaps, but not true. It was … weaker."

"Oh," Emma said quietly.

There was a heavy silence, neither woman quite knowing what to say. Emma fidgeted with her fingers, the near constant trembling now normal for her. Regina's eyes remained closed, her mind filled with memories of Robin. And Daniel. And Henry. And Emma.

"My love with Hook isn't true either."

The words drew Regina back into the dark room and she opened her eyes, her gaze meeting Emma's. The blonde looked guilty but also relieved to have confessed something which had clearly been eating away at her.

"But what about in the Underworld?" Regina frowned. "I mean, he came back to life for you."

"Oh his love is true for me," Emma clarified. "But mine for him … not so much."

"Unrequited true love? Ouch," Regina remarked. She knew that was a possibility, although a very rare one. It was the only possibility which had given her hope after Killian had appeared and she first realised her own feelings, hope which was rising a little at every passing second.

"So you've never felt true love?"

"For Henry," Emma nodded. "And -."

She stopped abruptly, stood up, and hurried towards the doorway. She couldn't say it. Not now. The timing wasn't right.

"Emma."

The gentle voice made her stop dead in her tracks, her hands twitching by her sides. She waited, knowing Regina was coming for her, sensing the woman move closer. She passed her, circled around, and stood before her, peering up into the blonde's taut face.

"Emma," she repeated. "It's ok."

"It's not," Emma whispered. "It can't be. If losing your true love is what turns you towards the darkness again then we can't -."

The rest of Emma's words were smothered with the firm press of plump lips against her own. She whimpered, her mouth parting and Regina's tongue at once invading the space. Hands fisted in the newly-short brown hair, gripping tightly, never wanting to let go. Regina's own hands landed on Emma's denim clad hips, pulling her closer as their tongues met for the first time.

The blonde let out a moan as her back collided with the wall, Regina's body pressed firmly against her front. She could feel the heat of the older woman's skin radiating through her clothes and her heartbeat quickened. She needed to feel more. Hands reached to push the black tailored jacket from her shoulders, shoving it away and revealing the silky black dress beneath. Her fingers delighted in the delicate fabric, flowing like liquid beneath her touch. But she still needed more. The zip was deftly undone, the material eagerly parted and discarded, all the while their mouths still fused, their tongues still tasting, their lips still moving.

Emma's fingers raked reverently over Regina's smooth skin, so hot it almost burned, so different from Killian and yet, somehow, so familiar. Her heart beat faster as she felt Regina's own hands begin to work to divest the blonde of her clothes; first her black leather jacket and then her own white blouse was tugged over her head. The necessary break in the kiss led to a moment of eye contact, green into brown, searching, reading, understanding. And continuing.

Their mouths crashed back together, more passionate and more needy than before. Regina's hands reached for Emma's belt buckle, racing to remove the last barrier between where they knew this was going. Once they were both stood in just their underwear, the kiss slowed slightly, still fiery but somehow less urgent. Eventually Emma pushed Regina gently away, needing to take in the sight before her.

Regina stood confidently in a matching black lace underwear set. Her heaving breasts were flushed and covered in goosebumps, her tiny thong hinting to Emma how well groomed the woman must been; she could see not a single hair. Emma's eyes trailed down to the black stilettos Regina was still wearing, her core clenching at the sight. Regina too was admiring Emma's physique. Although she knew the blonde kept in good shape, she was unprepared for the sight of the defined six pack, the muscular thighs and the overall image of power. She had never been more aroused by another person's body before.

In unison, they moved back to one another, lips captured in a kiss as if they'd been together for years. The clasps to their bras were unhooked, the material dropped to the floor. Both women gasped as their breasts pressed tightly together for the first time. It was Emma who moved first, dipping her head to capture a straining nipple between her teeth. Regina cried out as teeth nibbled the sensitive flesh, her own hands cupping both Emma's globes and squeezing roughly. Emma growled her approval against Regina's skin, the heat between her thighs almost unbearable. She needed Regina. And she needed her now.

Without wasting another second, she reached down and tugged the scrap of black lace aside, her fingers sliding deftly through wet folds. Regina moaned loudly, her hands on Emma's breasts squeezing again. Emma's fingers, slick with her essence, quickly found her clit and circled it tightly. Her hips bucked, the contact to her tender nerves already pushing her towards the edge. Emma wasn't going to give it to her that easily though. She moved further, pushing the tip of one finger into Regina's soaked channel. It was enveloped in the silky walls, the wetness coating her digit as she slowly pumped in and out. Regina's whimper of her name spurred Emma on, a second finger added, quickly followed by a third. Regina gasped, her body stretched suddenly as the blonde took control. Regina's hands moved to Emma's shoulders, gripping tightly, the nails leaving half-moon crescents in the pale skin. Their mouths rejoined, the kiss messy and frenzied as Emma's fingers between Regina's legs picked up the pace.

Twisting her hand, Emma pressed the heel of her palm to Regina's neglected clit, wriggling the pressure against the sensitive nerves. Regina cried out, the sound swallowed by Emma's lips as she came, her body finally finding release against the blonde's hand. Regina's forehead hit Emma's shoulder, her head lolling forwards as she sagged against the younger woman. Emma kissed the top of her head, one arm wrapped around the spent woman's body. She could hear and feel Regina's breathing, harsh and ragged, against her skin.

And then, without warning, Regina dropped to her knees and covered Emma's mound through her underwear. Emma gasped and fisted Regina's hair, her hips canting forwards into the warm wetness she could feel, the pressure of Regina's tongue noticeable even through the material. And then, with a wave of Regina's hand, the underwear disappeared and Regina's mouth was completely, wonderfully against the smooth skin of Emma's sex. She moaned, her stance widening as she felt Regina's tongue burrow through her folds, parting them, searching. She reached Emma's entrance and circled it, the tip of her tongue dipping teasingly inside before it returned to her clit, sucking the tight little bundle into her mouth. Emma shuddered in delight, her body responding to Regina like it had no other person in her entire life. Regina just seemed to sense what she wanted.

The sucking lessened, light laps to her clit replacing it, twirling around the nerves and teasing her folds. Regina's name bounced off the stone walls as two fingers were thrust abruptly into Emma's tight channel Her body welcomed the intrusion, squeezing tightly as the pumping began a steady rhythm, the sucking of her clit resuming.

Emma came with a yell, her whole body trembling as the pleasure crashed over her. Regina caught her as she collapsed to the ground, their naked bodies wrapped together on the cold flagstones. Emma's arms looped around the woman cradling her, kisses rained on olive skin as she trailed her way across Regina's collarbone, up her neck, along her jawline and finally to the come-covered lips which she captured in a sweet kiss.

"I can't lose you, Emma," Regina whispered when they broke apart. "If I lose you, I don't think I'll be able to resist the darkness."

"But you won't lose me," Emma countered. "If that really is you beneath the cloak, then the vision will never come true. One can't happen without the other, right?"

"What if it's the Evil Queen?" Regina replied. "What if she's the one beneath the cloak."

"We won't let it come to that," Emma said firmly. "We'll stop her."

"The only way to stop her is if I die too," Regina reminded her lover, wiping a tear from her own cheek.

"You're not going to die," Emma said quietly. "Neither of us are. We're heroes, remember? Heroes always win. We'll find another way to destroy your evil half, I promise. We won't let her win."

"Really?"

"Really?" Emma nodded. "I love you, Regina. And I'm never letting anything destroy what we have."

"I love you too," Regina said, kissing Emma firmly as the tears fell from her eyes.


	6. 06-06 - Dark Waters

A/N: there wasn't a single SwanQueen scene in last night's episode! I mean, seriously? But I did rather enjoy the fact that the Evil Queen doesn't ship CaptainSwan and nor, for a moment, did Henry. Also, I know it was Rumple but that kiss was still hot! As was the 'teacher' quote … Anyway, I've used today's chapter as an excuse to get some conversation between our favourite character's two halves.

* * *

"I don't think you came all this way just to gloat," the Evil Queen said, eyes narrowing as she looked at her other half. "That's my move. You're up to something else."

Just then, Robin's cries echoed from the house. Regina pursed her lips but said nothing. Zelena glowered at Regina before turning and stalking back to check on her daughter. The Evil Queen watched her sister go before turning back to Regina.

"What's up, sis?" she sneered. "Annoyed I've taken you plaything away?"

"Zelena wasn't my plaything," Regina snapped. "She's my sister. And you're just using her to serve your own interests."

"Oh don't tell me you care about our redheaded half-sister," the Evil Queen cackled. "We both know that's not true. After all, she could never accept who we truly are, could she?"

Regina swallowed thickly. Had Zelena told the Evil Queen about their conversation they'd had all those months ago? But then Regina remembered: the Evil Queen had been present all along. She'd simply been hiding, deep inside Regina's own body, but still privy to every aspect of her life. She scowled.

"Then why are you holed up with her?" Regina asked. "As you said, she hates who we are."

"No, she hates who she thinks you are," the Evil Queen corrected. "I've told her that little infatuation was all you and that my desires lay with someone decidedly more … male."

Regina scoffed. "And she believed you? Please. Could you be any more gay? It wasn't until I became you that I started sleeping with women. Before then it was only Daniel."

"Yes and look how well that turned out, Regina," the Evil Queen laughed. "Men are weak, remember? That was what our mother was referring to. The weakness isn't love, it's loving a weak person. But Emma, no, Emma isn't weak, is she? That's the problem I'm having right now. Because as much as I would love to enjoy destroying her, I can't."

"You don't love Emma," Regina hissed.

"I don't _want_ to love her, true," the Evil Queen replied. "But wanting something doesn't make it so. I was inside you for too long, Regina. I was playing the hero for just long enough to allow myself to fall for one. And now, thanks to Emma's personal strength and my … feelings, I can't complete my plan."

Regina's eyebrows rose. Was the Evil Queen admitting defeat? But more importantly -

"Stay away from Emma and her family," Regina said, stepping right up to her other half and glaring into those eyes. "Don't you dare tell her how you or I feel. Don't come anywhere near her, do you understand?"

"Oh, she knows already," the Evil Queen laughed. "She's known for years, Regina. Well, about you, not me. But that's what you were referring to anyway, wasn't it? Why haven't you told her? I mean, it's been years now since you realised your feelings for the saviour. Are you just waiting for that smelly pirate to stand aside? Or are you waiting for her to come to you? Oh Regina, I taught you better than that. If you want something, go and get it."

"I'm not in the habit of destroying families to get what I want," Regina replied.

There was a sudden silence and then the Evil Queen let out a peel of laughter. Despite herself, despite everything, Regina couldn't help but laugh. After all, she had spent years doing exactly that. It wasn't until she arrived in Storybrooke, it wasn't until she met Emma, that she found some other purpose in life. She sighed, rubbed her hands over her face and folded her arms, waiting for the Evil Queen to stop cackling.

"So let me see if I've got this right," the Evil Queen said at last. "I was the one who got you interested in women in the first place but now we're separated you're still in love with Emma, as am I, correct?" Regina nodded reluctantly. "And you know she's your happy ending just as I know she's your happy ending, not mine, I might add, and you're still not going after her?"

"I can't," Regina snapped. "I can't go after Emma, you idiot! She has Hook and … Henry."

"You both have Henry," the Evil Queen pointed out. "All three of us have Henry. That kid is the luckiest abandoned baby in the world. He's gone from no parents to four."

"Four?" Regina frowned.

"Neal," the Evil Queen reminded her. "And can I also just point out that you had no qualms about getting in between Emma and her baby daddy, not until Hook stepped onto the scene."

Regina realised with a jolt that everything she had ever thought, said, or done over the past thirty odd years was just as much a part of the Evil Queen as it was herself. She had no secrets from the woman standing across from her. And, for the first time since she had discovered her evil half still lived, she was glad. At least with the Evil Queen she didn't have to pretend. She was tired of hiding her feelings and denying how she felt. But now …

"He'll mess up," Regina said at last. "Sooner or later she'll see him for who he really is. And when that happens, I'll be there for her."

"That's going to happen sooner than you think," the Evil Queen remarked. When Regina frowned, she elaborated. "Those shears she entrusted him with, he still has them. He plans to sever her from her saviour destiny without her knowledge."

Regina gasped. "That bastard. Why can't he ever just do as she asks? Why can't he respect her wishes?"

"Perhaps because he sees what everyone else sees," the Evil Queen said slowly. "A woman who is too good for him and destined to be with another."

"Hook doesn't see that," Regina scoffed. "Nor does anyone else."

"Zelena did," the Evil Queen pointed out. "She was the one who confronted you about your feelings for Emma. Who said you were disgusting for wanting to lie with another woman. You really think she was the only one who noticed?"

Regina thought about that, her mind flitting back to that horrible conversation she had endured so many months ago. Her relationship with Zelena had always be tumultuous but she hadn't anticipated her half-sister to be quite so … homophobic. It had shocked her, angered her, and driven an irreversible wedge between them, one which the Evil Queen appeared to be using for some unknown end. Although, Regina mused, she couldn't quite understand why even her evil half would want to be around someone so unaccepting when it came to love. After all, it was her mother's inability to accept Daniel which started everything in the first place.

"Just, stay out of it, ok?" Regina said. "Emma doesn't need this right now. You know what she's going through with those visions. I'm pretty sure me telling her how I feel isn't going to help."

"You'll regret it if you don't tell her," the Evil Queen warned. "You know what the future holds for her, Regina. You know what's going to happen. Do you really want that fateful day to come and you still haven't told her? What if there's a chance for you two?"

"Why do you want us together?" Regina frowned. "If you love Emma as you say you do, why don't you go after her? I mean, don't!" she added hastily. "But … why aren't you doing that?"

"Because Emma fell in love with Regina, not the Evil Queen," the latter shrugged. "She'd never accept me, not without you as a part of me again."

"Again?"

There was a heavy pause, Regina desperately trying to read the mask the other version of herself wore so well. Years of practice, she mused.

"You can always fix what's gone wrong," the Evil Queen said slowly.

Regina frowned, unsure if she quite understood what the other part of her was saying.

"We can, what? Rejoin?"

"Perhaps," the Evil Queen replied. "Perhaps if that happens we'll both be able to get what we want."

"And what's that?" Regina asked.

"Emma."

* * *

A/N: completely ridiculous, I know. But hey!


	7. 06-07 - Heartless

A/N: ok so that little SwanQueen scene was perfection! And I so almost took the line out of context but I decided it wasn't even necessary. It was too good right where it was. NSFW.

* * *

"Regina … oh my God!" Emma grimaced.

"I told you, nothing happened," Regina snapped. "Please, can we not have this conversation here."

Emma narrowed her eyes before jumping to her feet.

"You're right," she said, glancing around the room at the motley collection of heroes their party had become. "This is not the place."

Leaning across the table she grasped Regina's hand and the couple disappeared in the cloud of white-grey smoke. When the air cleared, Regina looked around and discovered Emma had magicked them both to the kitchen of the mayoral house. Already Emma was stalking towards the large fridge, from which she pulled a beer. Unscrewing the top, she took a long drag before slamming it onto the counter.

"You and Gold?" Emma said, spinning on her heel to face Regina who was standing slightly sheepishly by the kitchen island.

"Nothing happened," Regina repeated.

"But you didn't tell me about this so called chemistry between you two," the blonde retaliated. "Chemistry Regina! Doesn't that mean you have feeling for him?"

"Physical attraction and feelings are two different things," Regina remarked.

Emma's eyes widened at the words and she felt slightly sick. An image of Mr Gold swam into her mind; she blinked it away.

"Physical attraction? To that imp?"

"I mean, not exactly," Regina defended, shifting from foot to foot. "But he taught me, Emma. He was the first person who told me I could be strong. Who taught me how to get what I wanted in life. He's powerful and magical and, well, yeah, he's a little sexy."

"You think Rumplestiltskin is sexy?" Emma said. "What the fuck, Regina? Why are you with me if you're interested in shiny little men?"

"Hey," Regina said, crossing the room at once and reaching for her girlfriend. "I can find someone attractive and not want to be with them. You think Stana Katic is sexy and I don't get jealous, do I?"

"You refuse to watch Castle or any movie she's in," Emma pointed out, arms folded despite Regina's own looped around her waist.

"Yes but I know you're not going to run off and cheat on me with her," Regina reasoned. "And not just because she lives a million miles away. I trust you not to do that, Emma. Don't you trust me when I say nothing ever happened with Gold nor will it ever happen?"

Emma shifted uncomfortably in Regina's embrace. Of course she trusted Regina. She trusted her girlfriend with her life. Always had. Always would. But it still hurt; knowing that someone in Storybrooke had _chemistry_ with the beautiful brunette. And more to the point, Regina was aware of it and found the man (man!) sexy.

"Nothing happened?" Emma asked.

"Nothing at all," Regina replied seriously.

"Promise?"

"I promise," Regina nodded. "Please, Emma. How can I show you how much I want you and literally no one else in the world?"

Emma raised an eyebrow at that comment. She knew it was wrong for her mind to jump straight to sex when her parents were wondering how to stop the entire town from being bathed in River of Souls water before the end of the day. But when it came to Regina, sex was almost always on Emma's mind. Regina didn't even need her to say it; she could see the glint in those deep green eyes.

They stumbled upstairs together, discarding clothes as they went. Both knew they didn't have much time before they really had to get back to the search for this mysterious True Love sapling but it would be enough. After so many months together, each woman knew exactly what the other wanted and how to bring their partner tumbling over the edge within minutes.

Just as Emma reached for Regina's underwear as they tumbled onto the bed together, the brunette pulled back, slapped away Emma's questing fingers and waved her hand. Emma gasped as she felt the cold metal of her own police handcuffs now encasing her wrists and looped through the headboard of the bed, her arms stretched above her head.

"Gina?" Emma frowned.

"I said I'd show you how much I want you, remember?" Regina said. "And I don't want any distractions when it comes to your own hands touching me. This is about my desire to touch you, ok?"

Emma was about to protest but at that moment Regina bowed her head and licked steadily through the blonde's wet folds.

"Fuck!" she cried, her legs opening wider and her wrists trembling against their binds, rattling the metal against the wood.

Regina ignored the noise as she settled herself between her girlfriend's spread thighs and licked again, this time twirling the tip of her tongue around Emma's clit before sucking it into her mouth. Emma's hips bucked upwards, the warm wetness delicious and torturous all at once. She needed more. She needed Regina. Two fingers parted her folds, skating through the essence coating them and circling her entrance. She moaned, her breasts heaving as she gazed down her taut body, Regina's head bobbing between her thighs.

"Gina," Emma moaned, her core aching for more of her girlfriend's touch.

And of course Regina knew exactly what the blonde wanted. She pushed one finger gently inside the clenching channel, feeling Emma's body part and welcome her as she did so. Never once did she remove her mouth from Emma's tight bundle of nerves as she worked a second and then a third inside. Emma sighed in contentment, her cunt deliciously full at last and Regina's magical tongue still working wonderings on her clit. She knew she wasn't going to last long.

Regina began to pump, a steady, relentless rhythm as she thrust her fingers deeply in and out of the quaking woman before her. She curled them as she pulled out, stroking down the sensitive ridged wall of Emma's core. She loved doing that; feeling her girlfriend so intimately. As Emma grew closer, her walls began to ripple, the pleasure building deep within her as Regina's mouth sealed more insistently around her clit, worrying it between her teeth.

Emma ached to touch her girlfriend, to thread her fingers through her hair and pull her mouth impossibly closer against her own sex. She needed to feel that control. She needed to grind her pussy against Regina's face. She rocked her hips but it wasn't the same. She wanted her hands to be free.

"Regina, untie me," Emma gasped, her orgasm hurtling towards her.

Regina gave no acknowledgement at having heard Emma but seconds later the pressure around her reddened wrists reduced and the metal disappeared. Regina always heeded Emma's requests in bed, especially when it came to anything remotely BDSM. At once Emma's fingernails were digging into Regina's scalp, pulling the brunette closer as her hips jutted forwards. Regina allowed the forceful act, allowed Emma to use her body for her own pleasure. And seconds later the blonde was screaming through her release, wetness flowing over Regina's chin as her girlfriend squirted her juices all over the bed.

She collapsed back on the sheets, panting and sweaty. Regina pulled back slowly, gazing in wonder at the significant wet patch Emma's orgasm had produced. Squirting was a rare occurrence for them and she found it immensely sexy. She licked her lips, sucked her fingers clean, and eventually crawled up the body of the spent woman before her.

"I love you," Emma murmured as Regina lay soft kisses across her collarbone.

"I love you too," Regina replied quietly. "Only you, Emma."

"Are you quoting Yazoo?" Emma chuckled, her arms encircling Regina's body and crushing the naked woman against her.

"Perhaps," Regina grinned, remembering their son playing his and his girlfriend's 'song' at top volume all the previous weekend. "And it might be cheesy but it's true."

"I know," Emma said quietly. "I'm sorry I wigged out earlier."

"Wigged out?" Regina frowned.

"Went a little crazy," Emma explained. "I know nothing happened between you and Gold and I know you don't want anything to ever happen between you. Whatever your Evil Queen is doing outside of your body, that's no reflection on you as a person."

"Thank you," Regina smiled. "That means a lot."

"So …" Emma began, rolling the pair of them over and snaking her hand down between their bodies. "If I show you how much I want you, can we watch Castle?"

"Are you going to drool over Stana Katic?"

"She's sexy as fuck, Regina!" Emma argued, just as her fingers dipped inside Regina's core.

Brown eyes narrowed. "Are you seriously trying to tell me you find Stana Katic more sexy than me with two fingers buried in my pussy?"

Emma swallowed thickly. She didn't think there was anything or anyone on the planet more sexy than Regina Mills saying the word 'pussy'.

"No," she said hoarsely. "No, I'm not."

"Good," Regina smirked, settling back against the bed and rocking her hips, prompting Emma to recommence moving her fingers. Which she did, of course.

* * *

A/N: I love Stana Katic. I mean, who doesn't? Without her Castle would have been nothing. #JustSaying


	8. 06-08 - I'll Be Your Mirror

A/N: SO MUCH SWANQUEEN! And SwanQueen family. Excellent episode for that fact aone. Also, sorry for the delay. For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter (SwanQueenUKFF), I was on holiday!

* * *

"No, no, it's different for us, for you," Emma added. "You have something she doesn't."

"A conscience?" Regina spat, anger seething inside her at the realisation that she had let the Evil Queen get the better of her and endanger Emma in the process.

"Me," Emma said simply.

She crossed the barren landscape and took Regina's hands in her own. The brunette didn't pull away but she also didn't meet the reassuring green eyes before her. Emma sighed and gently tilted Regina's chin upwards until at last their gazes met.

"Regina, you know we can get out of this together," she said softly. "We always get out of things. As a team."

"We don't have magic this time," Regina said, her eyes glassy as she thought about everyone they had left behind. Henry, Snow, even Charming.

"I think we do," Emma countered. "Together, I mean."

Regina frowned. She knew her magic wasn't working. She had felt it the moment she had landed in the world of her own creating. It had been one of her favourite features, in fact, of the world beyond the mirrors. By removing any magical abilities from whoever she sent there, she had always known they could never escape. Unfortunately for her, that also meant she couldn't escape. No matter what Emma thought about their magic.

"Regina, our magic has done some pretty extraordinary things in the past," Emma reminded the sceptical brunette. "Forget about Newton's discovery of gravity; we moved the Earth to block out the moon. That's some pretty powerful stuff right there and, well, I have a theory."

"A magical theory?" Regina asked, eyebrows raised. Emma had never been the most attentive nor dedicated student during the brief time the two of them had studied magic together.

"Yes," Emma nodded. "But you have to promise not to freak out."

Deciding that she couldn't be any more freaked out than she already was trapped in a world of mirrors, Regina nodded.

"Our magic is powerful because of a connection between us," Emma said simply.

"A connection?" Regina frowned. "What sort of connection?"

Emma bit her lip. She thought Regina would have known, would have worked it out long before she had. After all, the brunette had been studying and practicing magic for decades whereas Emma was relatively new to her abilities. It had taken her months of pouring over Belle's collection of magical tomes to prove what she had suspected was occurring whenever she and Regina performed magic together. She had hoped when she had voiced her awareness of their connection that Regina would have confirmed her own knowledge. Apparently not.

"It's True Love's magic," Emma said simply. "The reason the two of us are able to wield such power when we work together is because we're True Loves."

Regina's jaw dropped. She stared, unseeing at the blonde before her as her brain tried to register the words. True Love? No. It was impossible. Robin had been her True Love. Tinkerbell's fairy dust had led her to him in the Enchanted Forest all those years ago. And now he was dead but that didn't mean she had another True Love. Emma must be mistaken, she decided. After all the blonde knew next to nothing about the theory of magic.

"Regina, say something," Emma urged, breaking the silence which had permeated between them for well over a minute.

The brunette looked like she was trying to come up with the words to express how she felt but she seemed to give up and instead swivelled on her heels and marched off, disappearing into the maze of mirrors. Emma sighed as she watched her go. She didn't know what she had expected but she guessed Regina needed time to accept what she had been told. If Emma knew it to be true, it was only a matter of time before the brunette realised the Sheriff had been right. She sat down with her back resting against a cloudy mirror and waited. She had been waiting for five years, after all. She could wait a little longer.

Regina stalked through the mirrors, heart thumping, brain whirring. It couldn't possibly be true. Emma must have made a mistake. There was no way the two of them shared True Love. Perhaps the link was Henry, yes, perhaps Henry was what made their magic together powerful. They both had True Love for him, after all. But Regina knew that wasn't how True Love's magic worked. She had read all about the rare phenomenon, in fact. She wracked her brains, trying to remember what Rumple had told her and what her lessons had taught her about it but was coming up empty, her mind having replaced the information with more relevant, useful facts over time. Now however, she was cursing herself for not paying more attention.

She thought instead about the magic she and Emma had performed together. There was the time the two of them had destroyed the trigger in the mine. And the time they had indeed covered the moon to erase their shadows in Neverland. The giant snowman had been more of a challenge but they had made some headway together before the Snow Queen appeared. They had defeated the Chernabog who had been after Emma. And then there had been all the other times they had worked together to defeat the threats which plagued Storybrooke and their family. Ok, there was no doubt that Emma and Regina made a good team, the brunette could concede to that. But True Love? No, that simply wasn't possible.

By the time Regina returned to the small clearing in the forest of mirrors, Emma was asleep. She was still resting against the mirror, her jacket pillowing her head. Regina couldn't help but smile at the sight, despite the circumstances. Her eyes drifted down Emma's defined arms until they rested on her wrist where she saw for the umpteenth time the tattoo of the lyon flower. She gasped and, without thinking, dropped to her knees and took Emma's wrist in her hands.

"What's going on?" Emma asked, startled awake by the contact and blinking blearily at the woman kneeling in front of her .

"This tattoo," Regina said. "Why did you get it?"

"I dunno," Emma yawned. "I was a kid. I didn't think long and hard about it. I just wanted to rebel in some way and tattoos were all the rage back then. Why?"

"It's a lyon flower."

"I know," Emma frowned, sitting up a little straighter but not pulling her wrist away which was still held tightly in Regina's grasp.

The brunette's thumb traced over the smooth skin, the outline buried deep beneath the surface. The hairs on the back of Emma's neck stood up and she bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself whimpering at the contact.

"Robin had a lion tattoo here," Regina murmured.

"I know," Emma said softly. She knew how much Regina missed her former lover but she also knew the man wasn't the brunette's True Love. It appeared Regina was coming to the same conclusion.

"You weren't in the Enchanted Forest when Tink used that powder," Regina said slowly.

"No," Emma replied.

"But Robin was."

"Yes."

"So, what does this mean?" she asked, looking up at last into Emma's earnest green eyes. "What do you want?"

"I don't want anything from you, Regina," Emma said, sliding her wrist from Regina's grasp at last and instead taking the brunette's hands. "But I do need you to accept what I'm saying. If we have any hope of getting out of here, we're going to have to use our True Love magic and work together."

"And when we're out?" Regina whispered. "If what you're saying is true and we get out, what then, Emma? We just go back to normal? You go back to Hook and I go back to my lonely mansion and we forget what's between us?"

"What is between us?" Emma asked, cocking her head. "Are you saying you believe me?"

Regina drew her bottom lip between her pearly teeth and Emma's gaze snapped to the tantalising sight. She swallowed thickly.

"I believe you," Regina nodded. "But …"

She trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence and show weakness in front of Emma. Even now, without the Evil Queen inside her, she needed to appear strong and in control. It was how her mother had raised her.

"Tell me," Emma said with a squeeze of Regina's hands. "Tell me, Regina."

"I'm scared," came the whisper. "Everyone I've ever loved has died, Emma. Daniel, Robin, my parents. You already have a death sentence marked out for you by fate. I'm not going to do anything which could jeopardise our ability to change that destiny."

"So you're just going to ignore how you feel?" Emma asked. "You want me to ignore how I feel? You want the two of us to continue our lives even though we know we're both living lies?"

"What do you suggest?" Regina snapped angrily. "If you're the expert in True Love, Emma. What do you think we should do?"

"Be honest with each other for once," Emma shot back. "For once in both of our lives why can't we just get what we what? I'm sick of doing everything for other people, Regina, and I know you are too. If we both want this, why are we still holding back?"

"Who said I wanted this?" Regina all but shouted. "I never asked for this, Emma. I never asked to feel this way. I never wanted to fall in love with -."

The rest of the words were smothered by Emma's lips pressing firmly against the brunette's. She leaned forwards, hands wrapping themselves around the base of Regina's neck and tugging the surprised woman closer. It took a moment for Emma to feel Regina respond but when she felt the plump lips move beneath her own, she sighed with relief. Her lips parted, her tongue slid out and begged for entrance into Regina's mouth.

Regina's head was reeling as she felt Emma's tongue caress her own for the first time. She clutched the blonde's waist, anchoring herself to something solid, afraid that she might float away if she didn't. She heard Emma's sigh of delight as the kiss deepened and something stirred deep inside her, something she had been ignoring for years, if she was honest with herself. She felt Emma's tongue retreat from her mouth and chased it with her own, tasting even more strongly the cinnamon latte she had bought for the blonde that morning as they had devised their plan to defeat the Evil Queen.

At that thought, the kiss ended abruptly as Regina pulled back. Emma's eyes snapped open, fear reflected in the bright emerald orbs as she waited to see how the brunette would react. Regina got to her feet and walked away and Emma slumped back against the mirror. Had she blown it? Had she ruined her chance at happiness with her True Love?

"We need to find Henry in a mirror," Regina said, interrupting Emma's despondent thoughts.

"What?" Emma frowned, getting to her feet too. "Why?"

"Because we can communicate with him and once he knows where we are we can get him to find out how to release us," Regina explained, beginning to touch the mirrors around her and scanning the people visible in them for their son.

"Hang on," Emma frowned all the while doing exactly as Regina asked and checking the mirrors near her. "I thought you said they can't hear us on the other side."

"They can't," Regina said, moving to the next row of mirrors and out of Emma's sight. "But with our magic we'll be able to get through."

Emma's hand dropped from the mirror which showed her mother brushing her teeth and hurried after Regina. She found her around the corner, scowling as she saw Grumpy pouring himself a morning tipple of whiskey. She strode to Regina's side and tugged her arm so they were facing each other.

"What are you saying?" Emma asked, eyes searching Regina's face for the truth.

"You're right," Regina said simply. "You're right about us. Our magic is True Love magic and we can get out of here. But we have to find Henry and -."

Once more Regina's sentence was cut short as Emma embraced the brunette. Her arms wrapped around the older woman as their lips melded together again. Regina responded more quickly this time, distracted from the knowledge that they needed to rush to find Henry before her evil counterpart could wreak havoc on Storybrooke. But she was unable to pull away from the woman before her, unwilling to cut short the experience of kissing Emma Swan.

It was the blonde herself who ended the kiss minutes later when her head was swimming from lack of oxygen. She pulled back but kept her arms firmly wrapped around Regina, the brunette's looped around her own waist.

"We'll find Henry," she said simply. "We'll get out of here, I promise. And when we get home, there's no more shying away from our happy ending, ok? I'm not letting you duck out on what we have, Regina. Not if …"

This time the blonde was unable to voice her fears. Thoughts of her own death at the hand of the cloaked figure had plagued her nightmares for weeks now. She still struggled to speak about it out loud.

"I won't let that happen," Regina said firmly. "I'm not going to let destiny take you from me, Emma Swan. We've wasted five years when we could have been together. I'm not going to let some mysterious magical being cut our time short. We'll find a way, I promise. Together."

Emma smiled and nodded. She believed Regina was going to try, even if she was sceptical of their chances of success. But together she knew they had a shot.

"Let's get out of here first though," Emma said, releasing Regina at last and searching nearby mirrors.

"I believe I can help you with that," said a voice from behind them.

Both women turned and gasped in unison as The Dragon emerged from between two towering mirrors.

* * *

A/N: and back to the show.


	9. 06-09 - The Changelings

A/N: No lines between Regina and Emma! The horror! I must make something up then … NSFW

* * *

"You still have a hole in your heart, just like I did when I first came here," Regina sneered.

"And you don't now?" the Evil Queen laughed. "Tell me, how long did it take you to get over Robin? A day? A week? Were you perhaps even grateful to our dear sister here for finishing that simpering wood-dwelling weirdo off for you? Did you just not have the courage to do it yourself?"

"Shut up," Regina snapped. "Robin didn't heal my heart, Emma did."

The Evil Queen's eyes widened and then snapped to the house from behind which the blonde was emerging, swaggering towards the group with a cocky smile on her face. She hadn't wanted Regina to confront her other half alone but the brunette had insisted, asking Emma to stay hidden until as and when Regina needed or called for her. Which, of course, she did.

"Good afternoon, your Majesty," she said as she came to stand beside Regina. "Struggling to come to terms with the fact that Rumple doesn't care for you?"

There was a pause before the Evil Queen gathered herself. "Of course not," she snarled. "It's not like I cared for him either."

"Well, I think we all know that's not true," Regina said, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking on her toes in glee at the uncomfortable look on her lesser-half's face. "I know there was a connection between us and the Dark One," Emma bristled but Regina ignored it, "but that desire, that wanton lust for that impish little man, it all came from you."

"And you have better taste, do you?" the Evil Queen hissed. "Daniel? Robin? Emma? The only thing they all have in common is the fact that you outlive them. By a long way," she added with a laugh directly in Emma's face.

"Back off," Emma said, her voice low and dangerous. "Get out of here and go and speak to your lover-boy. Leave Zelena alone."

The Evil Queen looked like she was about to argue but with Emma stood before her and Regina clutching her own heart in her hand, she knew she wasn't able to fight the two women. With a final scowl, a bark of laughter, and a raised eyebrow, she disappeared in a plume of dark purple smoke.

At once, Emma and Regina rushed towards Zelena, helping the woman to her feet. The three of them made their way slowly back into the house where Regina at once scooped her niece slash step-daughter into her arms, soothing the whimpering child.

"Thanks," Zelena said as Emma healed the cut on her forehead and Regina handed her the calmed baby.

"No problem," Regina said, a little stiffly.

She might have just saved her sister's life but that didn't mean she had forgiven what happened between Zelena and Hades which had lead to Robin's death. She forced herself not to look at the child which had his piercing blue eyes. It wasn't that she was still in love with him, but it still hurt.

"You guys finally got together then, huh?" Zelena asked, looking between the two women.

"Yeah," Emma said, offering Regina a small smile. "Yeah we did."

"You shouldn't have told her, you know," Zelena remarked. "She'll use it against you."

"She can't," Regina replied. "If anything it will make her back off a little. Knowing I'm willing to die to save you after everything that happened between us shocked her. She knows I'd do the same for Emma. If she's involved in this vision, the Evil Queen won't dare make a move now, not when I can crush my heart in an instant to save Emma."

"It won't come to that though," Emma said quietly. She hated these conversations. She hated how casually Regina spoke about sacrificing herself for Emma. Of course the blonde would do the same for her girlfriend in a heartbeat. But that wasn't the point. The point was that it was a very real possibility that Regina would have to do exactly that. And she was terrified.

"It's not her anyway," Zelena said offhandedly as she cooed over her daughter.

"What?" Emma and Regina said in unison.

Zelena looked up, and couldn't help but laugh at the look on the two women's faces as they looked down at her.

"Oh come on, the Evil Queen isn't going to sword fight the saviour. She'd want a magic show. More flash. And before you ask, no I don't know what her plan is but I know it's bigger than you. Storybrooke and the heroes may think the world revolves around Emma Swan but the Evil Queen is playing a far bigger game. If she wanted you gone," she said, looking directly at Emma, "you'd be dead already."

"Comforting," Regina scoffed.

Zelena shrugged and returned to babbling away to Robyn. Emma and Regina watched for a moment before disappearing in a cloud of white smoke.

"It's my parents," Emma said as soon as they reappeared in the kitchen of the loft. Glancing over, she saw it was her father's turn to sleep soundly. "Her plan is my parents. She still wants her revenge on them and this endless sleeping curse cycle isn't enough. She wants them dead."

"We don't know that," Regina said, stepping forwards and taking Emma's hands in her own, rubbing her thumbs soothingly over the soft skin.

Emma was trembling, a common state for her now. Although it was barely noticeable to anyone else, Regina could always feel it. At night, as they lay curled in each other's arms, Emma's body shook silently, relentlessly, painfully.

"We do," Emma said quietly. "Revenge on my parents is what she wants. She thinks it will give her her happy ending. Just like you did when you cast this curse."

This time it was Regina who bristled and pulled away. They rarely spoke about those early days any more. They had at first, when they got together. It had needed to be said, hashed out. But now, now they'd moved on and it wasn't a subject either one wanted to dwell on.

"It's true, Regina," Emma said softly. "You know it's true."

"I do," she said shortly, marching over to the fridge and pulling out two bottles of beer. She tossed one to Emma who caught it before opening her own and taking a long swig. "And it took me almost thirty years to forgive your mother. We don't have that much time."

"What made you forgive her?" Emma asked. "Perhaps we can speed the process up a little?"

Regina shook her head. "It was a combination of things," she said simply. "Henry, my own mother returning, you."

"Me?" Emma asked.

Regina smiled, despite the situation. "Yes, Emma, you. I knew I could never hurt your parents as soon as I realised how I felt about you."

"Oh yeah?" Emma said, sauntering around to Regina's side of the kitchen island and looping her arms around the brunette's waist. "And how do you feel exactly?"

Regina rolled her eyes at the blonde but didn't deny her. They both needed regular affirmations about their relationship. After so many bad ones in both their lives, it was only natural to need to hear the words often.

"I love you," Regina said simply, smiling up into the green eyes above her.

"And I, you," Emma replied, craning downwards to kiss Regina softly. But as she pulled back, plump lips followed.

Hands curled around her neck, pulling Emma back towards her, eager for the closeness the two of them shared, the energy surging between their bodies as they touched. Ignoring the fact that her father was asleep in the next room, Emma moved forwards, pinning Regina against the counter with her hips and deepening the kiss. She could taste the bitter coffee the two of them had drunk before heading to Zelena's farmhouse that afternoon and she swallowed the whimper her nibbling teeth drew from Regina.

"Do we have time?" Emma asked, pulling away breathlessly a few minutes later.

"We always have time," Regina grinned. "And if we don't, we'll make time."

The smoke which enveloped them this time was a lighter shade of purple and when the air around Emma cleared she found herself not only lying on her bed in her old room but also completely naked. Happily, the woman straddling her waist was in the same predicament.

"I like time saving measures," Emma said as she leaned up and pulled Regina down on top of her.

"Me too," Regina mumbled against eager lips before sliding away.

Emma pouted for a moment before Regina winked at her and began to turn around. Emma's disappointed face turned into a wide smiled as she watched Regina's ass reverse towards her. She reached out, fingernails digging into the flesh and squeezing slightly.

"Ok?" Regina asked over her shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?" Emma asked, peering past the peachy ass to the grinning brunette beyond.

Regina laughed but that laughter turned into as gasp as Emma's hot mouth closed over her sex. She pushed herself back into the contact, grinding against the tongue now swiping against her entrance. She closed her eyes in delight as she felt Emma suckling her clit, taking a deep breath to steady the rising passions within her. And as she did so, she caught the scent of her girlfriend on the air.

Eyes open once more, she bent down herself and allowed the tip of her tongue to dance through Emma's already wet folds. A vibrating moan against her own clit made Regina shudder but she focused once more on Emma, needing to pleasure the brunette just as much as she needed her own climax. Their relationship, from the very start, had enjoyed a healthy, enthusiastic sex life. Their compatibility and seemingly subconscious understanding of one another's needs in bed had been both a pleasant surprise and entirely expected. Ever since they had become friends, for the sake of Henry, all those years ago, the two women had always been in sync.

"Fuck," Regina gasped, the puff of air hitting Emma's clit in reaction to the two fingers the blonde had just slid inside her own core.

Emma's hips bucked slightly but she didn't stop, seemingly determined in her quest to give Regina what they both wanted. The two fingers, enveloped in hot, wet velvet, pumped steadily in and out, slightly awkwardly bent at the knuckle to stop her punching herself in the face as she returned her mouth and tongue to Regina's erect, needy clit. She could tell the older woman was close; the movement and attention to her own sex had become sloppy and erratic. She didn't care. One of them usually came first in this position, the pleasure too mind-fuzzing to coherently touch the other to climax at the same time.

As Regina came, her cry muffled against the tender flesh of Emma's sex, the blonde lapped up everything her girlfriend gave her, savouring the earthy, tangy liquid she craved. Her mouth kept working, her chin wet and her tongue cramping. It was only when Regina resumed her own work on Emma's core that the younger woman lay her head back on the pillow, at last giving herself over to the sensations between her thighs. She gripped the ass still hovering above her, fingernails digging into the olive skin as Regina feasted on her.

"Moms!"

The shout of their son echoed up the stairs of the loft. Regina's mouth froze against Emma just as the blonde herself waved her hand at the bedroom door, causing the bolt to slide across.

"I'm almost there, keep going," she gasped.

Regina acquiesced at once and resumed lapping hungrily at Emma. It took little more than thirty seconds for the blonde too to crash into the blissful abyss of orgasm.

"Moms?" Henry's voice sounded once more, followed by a rap of knuckles on the door.

"Two seconds, sweetheart," Regina called out, quickly climbing off the spent woman below her and magically cleaning and then dressing herself and Emma.

The blonde groaned as she realised their private moment together was over and the two of them were going to have to face reality again. The reality being that Regina's evil half was walking around Storybrooke with some evil plan to destroy her parents' happiness more than she already had. Emma couldn't fathom how that was even possible but knowing the Evil Queen, she didn't doubt that it would be a truly heinous plan.

"We'll beat her," Regina said quietly, her face appearing in Emma's line of vision where she still lay, staring at the ceiling.

"I know," Emma said, sitting up at last and kissing Regina softly. The brunette still smelt and tasted of herself and Emma's sex twitched at the memories they had just shared. "I'm just not sure I'll be around to see the outcome."

Regina was about to answer when -

"MOMS!"

"Don't shout, Henry," Regina scolded, walking over and unlocking the bedroom door, through which their son stormed two seconds later.

"Don't have sex in the middle of the day then, it's gross," he declared, wrinkling his nose at the sight of the unmade bed and Emma's slightly mussed hair and pinked cheeks.

"What's up, kid?" Emma asked, ignoring the comment.

"Gran's downstairs," he said. "Belle's found something out about Rumple and their unborn child and she's freaking out."

Regina glanced at Emma and they both nodded. It seemed Storybrooke needed their Saviour and reformed Queen; the two would simply have to continue their conversation later. Probably naked.


	10. 06-10 - Wish You Were Here

A/N: hey guys! So sorry for the delay. But this insert is finally here! Make it last though because Once isn't back until March (sobs). Oh, and for those of you who read Crazy Changes, keep your eyes on your inbox of Christmas Day … there'll a present delivered from Santa (and by Santa, I mean me!)

Imagine a preexisting SwanQueen relationship for this insert please. Because, who doesn't do that during the eps? NSFW.

* * *

"Yeah," Regina smirked. "Singing Princess Emma isn't my favourite model."

Emma laughed. "Oh yeah?" she teased. "And what is your favourite model?"

Regina raised an eyebrow and looked around. The sun glinted off the lake behind them and long shadows from the forest ahead darkened the pebbled ground. Even in the middle of nowhere, their chemistry sparked white hot.

"I think that white lace set you wore last weekend is right up there," Regina mused. "And then, of course, there's all the times you've saved our son. That's pretty sexy too."

Emma smiled. "Right back at you."

She stepped over to her girlfriend and wrapped her arms around the slender brunette, lips melded together in a familiar, heady kiss. Regina's hands fisted in the back of Emma's regal gown, her body pulled flush against the younger woman's. But then the kiss was over and the blonde was stepping back, smiling again.

"Reckon we should actually go home and check he's ok before we get carried away?" she asked.

"Well, we've got some time," Regina mused, moving closer to Emma and looping her arms around her waist. "We're waiting for Rumple."

"Rumple?" Emma frowned.

"I released him in exchange for a magic bean to get us home," Regina explained.

Emma frowned. "But what if he's off razing villages?"

"Well, they're fake, so that wouldn't really matter, would it?" Regina pointed out.

"And I have far better things to do with my freedom than terrify peasants," added the man himself as he appeared leaning against a fallen tree.

"Exactly," Regina said, untangling herself from Emma and moving towards the little golden man. "Bean?"

Rumple waved his hand and the silvery item appeared in Regina's palm. The women, surprised that the Dark One had kept his promise and not added extra conditions, thanked him before he, with a final curious glance between the pair of them, disappeared in a puff of red smoke.

"Let's go home," Regina said.

"And by home you mean bed, right?" Emma asked.

Regina laughed. "After we check on Henry and make sure my evil other half hasn't destroyed the entire town, yes."

Emma grinned, kissed Regina on the cheek laced their fingers together. Regina threw the bean onto the rocky ground where a green whirlpool appeared, smokey and swirling. Fingers tensed, they jumped.

* * *

"Oh thank goodness," David said as soon as the two women appeared in the kitchen of the Charming's apartment. "I was dreading waking Snow and her finding out you were missing."

He moved to hug his daughter and then the brunette beside her. As soon as he had released them, Henry barrelled into both his mothers, arms almost crushing them to death.

"Hey, we're ok, kid," Emma reassured. "Really, your mom was amazing. She saved me."

"How?" Henry asked. "I mean, what happened?"

It didn't take long for the pair to recount their tales, during which Regina apologised sincerely to David for having had to murder him and Snow. David then returned the favour by explaining how Grumpy had seen the Evil Queen transformed into a snake by a hooded figure who had disappeared into the night. Regina and Emma stared at the viper in fascination as David explained they thought the mysterious magical being might have been who was in Emma's vision but they had no idea where he was. By the time they had finished updating one another, Emma was fidgeting and Regina knew their interrupted moment by the lake in the Enchanted Forest was making her girlfriend on edge. Well, that or the knowledge that the person who was destined to kill her had appeared in Storybrooke.

"Um, we're kinda tired," she said, stifling a fake yawn. "I think we're going to go back to Mifflin Street and have an early night. Henry? Are you coming?"

Henry nodded and the three of them said their goodbyes. It didn't take long to walk through the quiet streets and back to the mansion. Mercifully, their journey was devoid of sword wielding hooded figures. Henry disappeared up to his room as soon as they arrived home, claiming he'd had Granny's for dinner. Emma and Regina too made their way upstairs.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Regina asked as she closed the bedroom door.

"Sex?" Emma asked who was already removing her clothes, a glint in her eye.

"No, this mystery person Grumpy saw."

"Nope," Emma said with a smack of her lips. Before Regina could open her mouth to say any more, Emma had waved her hand and dressed herself in the white lace lingerie Regina so adored. Red painted lips fell open.

"Um, you know all magic comes with a price, right?"

"What's the price for speeding up the time until I get to have sex with my girlfriend?" Emma asked, sauntering towards the brunette.

"I … um, I dunno," Regina admitted. "Maybe our milk's gone bad."

"I'll get some more in the morning," Emma said as she reached Regina and began to unzip the brunette's jacket.

Regina couldn't help but chuckle. "You know what I mean though. We shouldn't really be using magic for day to day things. Not at the moment."

Emma sighed and took a step back. "Don't you think I'm paying the price? My death is foretold by a prophecy. The fact that I'm the saviour, the person who's supposed to save Storybrooke, it's a death sentence. I don't care about curdled milk, not when I don't know how long I've got left now that hooded figure is in town."

Emma sat down heavily on the bed and flopped back onto the soft sheets. Regina crossed the room and sat beside her, fingers itching, despite the circumstances, to trail their way across Emma's alabaster stomach.

"Do you think we should be out there trying to find this guy?" Emma asked, eyes closed.

"Is that what you want to be doing?" Regina countered.

"No," Emma replied simply. "I want to be here with you."

"Then that's what we'll do," Regina said, leaning over and placing a chaste kiss to Emma's lips.

A frown creased the pale forehead and as Regina pulled away, Emma sat upright once more.

"So you think I'm going to die too?"

"What?" Regina said, eyebrows raised. "Where did that come from?"

"I want to stay here and bury my head in the sand, and by sand I mean between your thighs by the way, and you don't tell me to get off my ass and fight? Regina, you always tell me to do the right thing. We both know a hero in this situation should go and track down whoever has come to Storybrooke and stop him. Instead you're letting me do what I want, for once. Do you think it will be my last request? Is this my dying wish?"

Regina's eyes sparkled with tears as she looked at the woman before her. She reached for Emma's hands, grasping both firmly in her own before continuing.

"Emma, you are not going to die," she said. "We are going to find a way to beat fate. We always do, remember? And I'm not heeding your dying wish, you goon. I want to spend the night in bed with you just as badly as you do. Do you think I enjoy chasing after bad guys? Because I don't! For once, after the day we've had, don't you think we both just deserve to … relax?"

Emma offered a small smile. "Yeah, I'd say we were due a vacation."

"And we'll have one, as soon as that hooded person is defeated. But right now, what do you say we settle for a couple of mind-blowing orgasms?"

Two sculpted eyebrows rose. "Mind-blowing, huh?" Emma said as she reached towards Regina and resumed the previously stalled job of undressing the brunette. "Reckon you're that good, do you, Madam Mayor?"

"Oh I know I am," Regina said with a smirk as she helped Emma remove her jacket and tossed it aside.

Soon Regina too was clad just in underwear. Even as she was silently cursing herself for not having donned a matching set that morning, Emma was unclasping the black lace bra and pushing the red silk underwear down tanned, toned legs. Just as Emma moved to divest herself of her own white lace, Regina stopped her.

"No," Regina said, answering the quizzical eyebrow. "Leave them on. They're my favourite, remember?"

Emma grinned and rolled herself on top of Regina who lay down willingly. Their mouths fused once more, the passion which had always been between them igniting so easily, as it did most nights. Even months into their relationship, neither woman could get enough of the other. Regina moved herself backwards up the bed until her head was resting against the pillow, Emma's tongue swirling delightfully against her own. She whimpered, therefore, when the blonde pulled away.

Emma ignored the not so silent protest, knowing Regina was going to enjoy her next move just as much. She smirked against the olive skin when, seconds later, a moan erupted into the room as Emma's mouth began to suckle just beneath Regina's ear, her tongue teasing the lobe. Once captured between pale pink lips, Regina bucked her hips, the sweet spot inexplicably linked to her core. Emma released her lobe with a soft pop and continued her descent, bypassing Regina's bare breasts in her eagerness to reach where she knew both herself and the brunette needed to feel one another.

She settled on her knees between Regina's legs and grinned as she dropped onto her elbows, wiggling her butt in the air a little. Regina's eyes darkened at the sight of the white lace encasing the tight, round ass but seconds later her eyes snapped shut and she gasped in delight as Emma's tongue delved between her folds.

The tip of the blonde's tongue trailed a path through Regina's most intimate area, mapping the already familiar skin as if it were the first time. She settled, quickly, on Regina's clit which she sucked into her mouth and teased mercilessly with her tongue. Regina's hands gripped the sheets, her core clenching wantonly, needing attention. What Emma was doing to her clit felt amazing but she wanted more. And Emma knew it. She glanced up the bed, over the flushed skin above her and finally took in Regina's face. Her hair was mussed, cheeks red, and her eyes screwed tight in a mixture of lust and frustration. Emma grinned into the wet sex before her. She loved driving her girlfriend wild. But, she mused, she also loved giving Regina pleasure.

"Fuck!" Regina cried as two fingers swiftly entered her without warning. Her eyes flew open and she saw the cocky glint in the saviour's own green orbs as she looked down at the woman whose face was buried between her thighs.

"Indeed," Emma mumbled against Regina's clit, making the brunette jump.

Regina narrowed her eyes and reached down, threading her fingers through Emma's hair and gently pulling the blonde's focus back to the job in hand. And mouth. Naturally, Emma was more than happy to oblige and suckled Regina's clit with renewed vigour, her fingers already thrusting a fast rhythm in and out of the brunette's tight channel. Regina's fingernails dug into Emma's scalp as she approached her peak. Body shaking, mouth open in a silent scream, she gave herself over to the pleasure Emma was causing and came hard against the blonde's mouth.

Emma didn't move, she stayed right where she was; lips sealed around the tight bud, fingers trapped by pulsating walls. She didn't want to move, of course. But she also wanted to prolong Regina's pleasure. As the brunette relaxed a little, she wiggled her fingers slightly and sent another mini-orgasm through Regina's body.

"Emma," the brunette gasped, spent and desperate.

The younger woman was beside her in a second, arms wrapped around the trembling woman and their mouths locked, Regina's essence mingled in their kiss. Their tongues moved languidly, reverently, both women needing a little time to recover from the intensity of their love making. As they settled against the sheets, side by side, legs intertwined and foreheads resting against one another, Regina spoke.

"Well, my mind is blown."

Emma's chuckle released a puff of air against Regina's lips. "Good," she said, kissing the older woman tenderly. "I'm glad you approve of my methods."

"Very much so," Regina said sincerely. "Now, how about we see what I can do for you?"

Emma grinned as she rolled willingly onto her back, Regina suddenly straddling her. It was at this time that Emma remembered she was still wearing her white underwear. Taut nipples strained against the lace and Regina licked her lips as she looked down at the dark buds beneath. Unable to resist, she took one in her mouth, through the fabric, and sucked. Emma moaned, back arched. Regina switched soon to the other breast, swirling her tongue around and enjoying the roughness of the lace against it as well as the fact that she knew she was teasing Emma. Eventually, she pulled the cup aside and enveloped a waiting nipple with no barrier at last.

Amazing as it was, Emma needed more. She still, despite the taste of Regina on her lips and the sensations of Regina's tongue at her breast, was thinking about the hooded stranger.

"Gina, please," she breathed.

Regina raised her head, surprised at the desperation she heard in the blonde's plea. She could tell, at once, that Emma needed distracting, needed to forget. That she was still thinking about her fate, her failure, her death.

Crawling back up, Regina kissed Emma softly, their lips barely brushing together.

"I love you," she whispered as her fingers inched the white lace underwear aside.

Emma didn't reply. Regina knew the answer anyway. Instead she allowed her eyes to close and to give herself over to the sensation of Regina's fingers cupping her hot sex. She wanted, just for a few minutes, to think of nothing but the beautiful woman hovering above her.

Reaching Emma's hard clit, Regina rubbed two fingers over it a few times before retreating. She wanted to prolong the inevitable. The longer she teased, the longer it would be before the two of them had to face reality again. One fingertip entered Emma, just a little way, curling as it retreated. Joined by a second, she pushed them a little further, a little deeper, feeling Emma's body part in welcome. The blonde shuddered in delight as Regina dropped her lips to the blonde's neck, kissing and licking the thin skin at her pulse point.

"More," Emma husked.

A third finger slid into the blonde, stretching her wider. She sighed in contentment and delight. This was working, she thought. Now she could forget. Except she wasn't forgetting if she was aware there was even something to forget. So lost in her own thoughts was she that Emma hadn't realised Regina's lips had left her neck until a soft palm cupped her cheek, encouraging her eyes open.

"Focus on me, Emma," Regina said quietly when green eyes met her own concerned brown ones. "Just you and me."

Emma nodded mutely and watched, heart thumping, as Regina slid down her body, fingers still pumping slowly in and out of her core the entire time. When she reached Emma's waist, she at last removed the white underwear, exposing Emma's core to her eager mouth. Without breaking eye contact with the blonde, Regina lowered her lips to the straining bud.

And at last, blissfully, Emma forgot.


	11. 06-11 - Tougher Than The Rest

A/N: yay! Once is back! And by Once I mean Lana and Jen. This ep had so much SwanQueen potential and was a massive let down once vagina-blocking Robin re-emerged. Ugh - this next half season is going to be tough to write … you guys may have to get used to either using your imaginations with regards to pre-existing relationships or become comfortable with the women cheating on their boyfriends …

This chapter is M rated.

* * *

"Nothing is real," Emma reminded Regina. "He's not real. This place was created on a wish. Don't get lost in it. When we get home this will just be like a dream."

"Yeah, you're right," Regina said, giving herself a little shake. "Sorry, I … I didn't mean -"

"It's ok," Emma said, holding out a reassuring hand. "I know you loved him."

"Loved," Regina repeated. "Past tense."

Emma laughed. "Yeah, I know that too. Don't worry, I'm not going to launch myself into a jealous rage and go and kill dream Robin."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "You'd have done that in Storybrooke if he hadn't died?"

Stumped for a moment, Emma suddenly realised what she had said. "No, of course not. I mean, we wouldn't be together if he hadn't died, would we?" she reasoned. "At least, I doubt we would be. So no, I wouldn't have killed Robin, of course."

Regina nodded slowly. She hated the fact that it had taken Robin's death and Hook's near death to force her and Emma to admit their feelings for one another. Granted, she was glad it had happened. But both women couldn't help but wonder if their previous partners could have been spared a lot of pain (and Robin's life) if they had just been honest with one another from the start. After all, they had both felt a connection from the moment the blonde appeared in Storybrooke five years ago.

"Hey," Emma said, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Regina, kissing her softly. "It's not your fault."

"I know," Regina sighed. "It's just … seeing him again, I suppose. I wish I could say sorry. But he obviously doesn't know who I am."

"No, he doesn't," Emma said. "Because this is a dream."

"Which is a good thing, really," Regina reasoned. "Otherwise it would mean our son was charging around the Enchanted Forest trying to kill me."

Emma laughed. "Oh yeah, forgot about that. He looked so handsome up on his horse like that. Prince Henry, I was so proud."

"He's trying to kill me," Regina reminded her.

"Right," Emma nodded. "No, he'd be grounded for sure if this was real Henry. But it isn't."

"No, but despite the dream-like state of this world, we are still stuck here," Regina said, leaning up to kiss Emma gently again. "So, Saviour, any idea how to get us out of here?"

Emma glanced around the deserted lakeshore. She didn't have much experience in the Enchanted Forest but every time she found herself here she was trying to get back to Storybrooke. If anyone could get her and Regina home to their real, non-homicidal son, it was Emma. Her eyes drifted to the log beside them.

"Yes," Emma said. "I know exactly how to get us home."

"Come on then," Regina said. "I don't need to be in a land where my son wants to kill me any longer than is necessary. Where are we heading?"

"August's," Emma said.

Regina's nose wrinkled at the name.

"Really?" Emma laughed. "You're still jealous of him? Even after I told you nothing happened?"

"You like him," Regina replied.

"Yes but I love you," Emma said.

The silence of the forest enclosed around them, gentle lapping of the lake against the shore fading to nothingness as the two women looked at one another. Emma bit her lip. Perhaps this wasn't the best time to say those words for the first time, she mused.

"You … love me?" Regina said after a long pause.

Emma sighed. "Yeah, I do. But I wanted it to be more romantic when I told you. I was going to take you our for dinner and buy you flowers and -"

"I love you too," Regina interrupted.

Emma had barely a moment to process the words before Regina launched herself at the blonde and their mouths were fused together. She gripped the back of Regina's coat tightly, pulling her girlfriend even closer to her, tongues dancing. Regina's hands were already pushing inside her princess' cape, sliding around to the back where they expertly began to deal with the corset bindings. Even blind Regina was adept at the fastenings she had spent years of her life acquainting herself with.

An unintelligible mumble left Regina's lips as Emma threw off the white cape and fumbled the buttons of Regina's black coat undone. They didn't care that they were outside, exposed in the middle of an alternate universe where Regina was being hunted by Henry's, and Emma's, soldiers. In that moment, neither woman was thinking about anything other than their desperate need to feel skin on skin.

They landed in a pile of bare limbs on Emma's cloak. It didn't exactly offer much cushioning against the pebbles beneath but the moment Emma's hand cupped the brunette's core, any discomfort melted away. Regina cried out as she felt her girlfriend's fingertips, teasing her entrance. She whimpered, eyes wide and pleading as she looked up at Emma. Now was not the time to draw things out. Emma obliged, as she always did. Her fingers entered gently but as soon as she had two buried knuckle-deep inside the older woman she began to pump in and out, a steady rhythm building as Regina's moans grew louder.

It was a stupid thing to do, they both knew that. The noises Regina was making could easily have alerted a group of passing soldiers to their presence and got them caught not only having sex but also landed Regina in prison. No, they weren't having sex. They were making love.

Regina cried out Emma's name as she crested, sweat beading on her forehead despite the chill of the air. The blonde beamed down at her as brown eyes blinked back, satiated and blissfully happy.

"I love you," Regina said. She didn't think she'd ever tire of saying those three little words to the woman whose fingers were now, sadly, retreating from her sex.

"I love you too," Emma said.

Regina pulled Emma down towards her, joining their mouths. Their kiss was languid and Emma relaxed into it, letting her guard down enough to allow Regina to flip them. Their sexual relationship had always been a game to see who could get the upper hand. As she rearranged herself to find a position where the pebbles weren't riffing into her back, Emma decided she was more than happy to let Regina get the upper hand as she saw where the brunette was heading. Regina smirked at the way her girlfriend submitted to her as soon as she began to crawl down the alabaster body.

She thought Princess Emma might even be paler than Storybrooke Emma, as she kissed a path down the almost translucent skin. No, Regina thought. This was Storybrooke Emma. It was just their al fresco surroundings which made her skin beneath her lips appear almost translucent.

Arriving at her destination, Regina wasted no time in letting her tongue lick a long, slow line through Emma's already wet sex. She too wanted to draw out their time together but the knowledge their son was riding around looking for her prevented what could have turned into hours of delicious teasing. Her tongue circled around Emma's hooded clit before she sucked it into her mouth, the blonde's hips arching at the move. Keeping the relentless pressure on Emma's sensitive bundle, Regina reached up and inserted two fingers into the wet channel, curling them tenderly against Emma's front wall until the blonde cried out. Keeping her finger on her girlfriend's sweet spot, Regina redoubled her efforts, swirling her tongue around Emma's clit until the blonde began to shake.

Emma's orgasm washed over her as the young woman tried to stifle her moans of pleasure. She usually let herself vocalise the feelings Regina brought out in her but due to their current location, she forced herself to be quiet. As Regina pulled away, however, she needed to say something. Once more.

"I love you," she said, breathless and boneless.

"I know," Regina replied cockily, licking her girlfriend's come from her lips. "I love you too. Now, let's get back to Storybrooke so I can show you just how much. Again."

* * *

A/N: yep, I shoehorned sex into it. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know your thoughts on last night's ep …


	12. 06-12 - Murder Most Foul

A/N: sorry this took so long. I was on holiday and then was struggling with inspiration because there were literally no SwanQueen lines and I desperately wanted to write smut for you. I managed it – you're welcome. And yes, this is NSFW.

* * *

"Well he's certainly not my Robin Hood," Regina said despondently. "So who is he? And what does he want?"

Just as Snow was about to open her mouth to reply, Emma burst into the apartment. Both Snow and Regina jumped to their feet. A frazzled-looking Saviour was never a good thing in Storybrooke.

"Emma?" they said in union, moving towards the blonde who had made a bee-line for the liqueur cabinet.

There was no response, however, as Emma pulled out a bottle of vodka, unscrewed the cap and took a generous swig. Regina and Snow glanced at one another, unsure what to do. After the bottle was raised to her lips for the third time, Snow stepped forwards and gently pulled it from Emma's grip. The blonde didn't put up a fight and instead turned towards the women as if she was just seeing them for the first time.

"Emma?" Snow asked. "What happened?"

"Hook proposed," Emma said shortly. "I needed to drink."

Three things shocked Regina in these two short sentences. Firstly, that Hook had actually grown the balls to ask Emma, secondly, that there was no alcohol in Emma's house which she shared with the alcoholic pirate, and thirdly, that Emma's reaction was quite so … unnerved.

"Congratulations," Snow said.

"What?" Emma frowned. "I didn't say yes."

Regina let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. Ok, so she had read Emma's desperate need for alcohol correctly. It wasn't a happy vodka drinking session. Relief washed over the brunette.

"Why not? I thought you loved Hook?" Snow asked, voicing a question Regina had desperately wanted the answer to for months.

"No," Emma said. "At least, not enough to marry. I can't give him what he wants."

"What does he want?" Snow frowned. From what she had seen, the only thing in the world that mattered to Hook was Emma.

"Kids."

Regina's mouth fell open. She had never seen Hook as a father figure. The man didn't even seem that interested in Henry unless he was trying to get into Emma's good books. Even then Henry had told his brunette mother that the time they spent together was predominantly shrouded in awkward silence.

"Hook wanted to have children?" Snow asked.

Emma nodded. "But I told him I already had Henry and I didn't want any more. We argued about it for months and –. Can I have the vodka back please if we're getting into this?" Snow handed it over silently. "Thanks. And yeah, we argued for ages but then it stopped and I thought he'd gotten over it. Even when he proposed I figured he must have given up but then he said he couldn't wait to start a family with me. He … he wants his own kids. Henry isn't enough for him and I … I can't have another child. I don't want another child."

The vodka bottle slammed down against the kitchen counter as tears finally leaked from Emma's eyes. Snow's arms wrapped around her daughter at once and, without thinking, Regina moved forward to join the huddle. She laid her head on Emma's shoulder, stroking gently up and down the blonde's back, swallowing the lump of emotions in her throat. Stop thinking about it, Regina, she thought to herself.

"Sorry," Emma said when she pulled back at last. "I just … I needed to get out of there."

"And drink."

Emma shrugged. "After what I saw in that parallel universe or whatever it was in the Enchanted Forest, I got rid of all the alcohol in the house. Drunkard Hook was vile."

Regina couldn't help but smirk. She had always found the man's tendency to rely on a bottle repulsive and had never seen quite why Emma was so willing to let his alcoholism slide, especially when he insisted on drinking around her son. Their son. Emma and Regina's son. Not Hook's. According to Emma, Hook didn't feel any fatherly affection for Henry. Regina felt rage boil inside her.

"Mind if I join you?" Regina asked, reaching for the bottle which Emma had temporarily abandoned.

Emma eyed the brunette carefully as she threw her head back, eyes screwed tight as the alcohol bit her throat.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

Regina shook her head. "Nothing," she replied. "You were right, that's all."

"I think that's the first time you've ever admitted that I was right," Emma said, temporarily forgetting her life troubles and smiling. "What was I right about?"

"Robin," Regina replied. "He's not real. You were right."

Emma frowned. "But he came back with us. He made it through the portal."

"It's not him though."

Emma didn't quite know what had happened but she understood enough to know that Regina's tattered heart had broken just a little bit more. Without thinking, she reached out to hug her friend, needing the contact as much as she suspected Regina did. The older woman's arms wrapped tightly around her, face buried against Emma's neck as she let out a soft sob.

The snapping shut of the apartment door moments later broke the two women apart and they looked around, realising Snow had disappeared from her own home. Emma and Regina glanced at one another and then shrugged before Emma reached for the vodka bottle and led the way upstairs. David might have been sleeping but neither woman wanted to drink away their sorrows within earshot of Prince Charming. Emma suspected her mother had also left to give the women some space.

Admittedly they were facing different problems; Emma's supposed true love had just proposed but wanted to have a baby while Regina's true love was, it turned out, really, definitely, unequivocally dead. But the two women had always had one another's backs and if they both needed to drink, then that was what they would do.

Although Emma had moved into her own house several months earlier, her old bedroom in her parent's loft was much as she had left it and it was there that the blonde headed. She pushed open the door and flicked on the light, casting the abandoned room into soft relief. The bed was made but the air smelt a little musty. She opened a window before joining Regina who had already settled herself against the headboard, pillow propped behind her.

"We don't need them," Emma said, swigging from the bottle and handing it to Regina. "We don't need those men to make us happy."

"Hook wants to make you happy though," Regina pointed out.

"No, he doesn't," Emma said. "He wants to make himself happy. I've told him I don't want more children. He won't listen. He's only thinking about himself."

"Same as Robin," Regina said. "This new version I mean. I had to magic away the former Sheriff of Nottingham from beneath his knife blade earlier today. The man is unhinged."

"I could arrest him," Emma offered. "Attempted murder?"

Regina chuckled. "Thanks but I'll pass. We talked about it. I told him the Robin I knew wouldn't have done that, that he put his family first."

"You told him about his kids?"

Regina drank some more vodka. "Yeah."

"And?"

Regina shrugged. "He was confused, I suppose. I mean, imagine finding out you have a child."

"I sort of did," Emma reasoned, taking the bottle back from Regina. "I mean, obviously I knew Henry existed but I never expected him to turn up on my doorstep asking me to come and rescue him from the Evil Queen."

Regina narrowed her eyes at her friend. Emma ignored the glare and took a drink. Regina knew she was just teasing anyway. "So, what did Robin do?"

"He was mad. We argued. He thought I'd brought him back to deal with the clusterfuck," Emma's eyes widened, "mess that is our family. I tried to tell him I wanted to be a fresh start for him, how I wanted him to be a fresh start for me but … it's not going to happen."

"Why not?" Emma asked.

"We kissed," Regina said shortly just as Emma was about to drink, causing vodka to slop over the rim of the bottle and over her chin.

"You what?" Emma asked, mopping her face.

"It's not exactly like it was our first time," Regina reasoned. "Except … it was. He wasn't Robin, _my Robin_. It was different. A pale imitation. There was nothing between us, basically. Even he felt it."

"No spark?"

"Nothing," Regina replied despondently.

"You've gotta have spark," Emma mused before drinking again and handing the bottle back to Regina.

"Like you and Hook?" Regina didn't know why she had voiced the question. She really, really didn't want to think about her best friend rolling around doing unspeakably intimate things with the one-handed pirate. For some reason the thought of Emma being so close, so naked, so vulnerable with Hook made her was to scream and throw things at the wall. Or perhaps at Hook.

"We had enthusiasm," Emma said. "At least, Hook did."

"And you didn't?"

Why do I keep asking questions? Regina thought to herself, downing another glug of vodka as if that might stop her brain.

"I was … willing," Emma replied at last. "It was fine, I guess. Nothing special. I've had better."

"Neal?" Regina asked.

Emma laughed at this. "We rarely had sex anywhere other than the back of the bug," she laughed. "I doubt you've ever tried to do the dirty in such a small space but, trust me, it doesn't lead to anything resembling a good time."

"Henry really was conceived on those seats?" Regina said, nose wrinkling in disgust.

"I've had them reupholstered," Emma placated.

Regina still looked mildly offended at the fact that she had been forced to ride in a car in which Emma's former lover had … nope! It was too unpleasant to speak about what might be lurking within those seat cushions.

"Lily was better than them all."

"What?" Regina's head whipped round at that, staring at the blonde.

"Lily," Emma repeated, a strange look on her face. "She was better than all of them. Hook, Neal, Walsh. No one could hold a candle to her when it came to -" She stopped, cheeks a little flushed as the memories washed over her.

"Lily as in Maleficent's daughter?"

Emma nodded and placed the now almost empty bottle down on the bed. "Yeah, that Lily."

"You two were … together?"

Emma nodded again. "Seven months. Not exactly the longest or even healthiest relationship I've been in but when it came to passion, God we had it in spades."

"Passion?"

Finally turning to her friend, Emma took in the flushed face of the Mayor, her wide, curious eyes and her intrigued expression.

"Every part of our relationship was passionate," Emma said. "You saw us together; we're explosive. Imagine that intensity, those feelings and put a bed between us. It was indescribable. Fucked up, perhaps, but amazing."

"You had sex with Lily?" Regina finally asked.

"Yeah," Emma replied. "Why? Do … do you have a problem with that?"

"No!" Regina exclaimed. "Not at all, not at all. I was just … I mean … I didn't know you liked … What was it like? With a woman, I mean?"

Emma looked at Regina once more. Her cheeks were rosy which Emma might have attributed to the alcohol except that the other signs; the darkened pupils, the parted lips, the angle of her body, all made the blonde think there was something other than vodka causing her friend to look at her like that.

It was stupid, she knew that. It was a drunken, stupid, foolish, senseless and potentially irreparable move to make. But she made it anyway.

The moment her lips pressed firmly against Regina's her eyes closed, just as her hand drifted across her body to rest on Regina's thigh. The brunette beside her, against her, was stunned for a moment before she realised what was going on. Her lips moved a little, parted tentatively, and then closed again. She repeated the move, pulling Emma's lip further into her mouth just as the blonde let out a little sigh of delight.

What happened after that noise escaped neither woman knew. All they understood was that it became suddenly vital for the two of them to feel one another, skin on skin, flesh on flesh, at once. Fingers fumbled buttons, hands palmed breasts through bras and then, blissfully without. Goosebumps formed but whether because of the touch of the other or the cool air from the open window, neither knew nor cared. Nothing mattered in that moment except the two of them.

Soon Emma could feel Regina, all of Regina. She lay on her back, panting, eyes wide in amazement as she saw the brunette sitting astride her, completely bare. Her core was rocking against Emma's abdomen, warm and wet and oh so ready. She reached up, beckoning Regina back down and meeting her for a furious kiss just as her hand snaked between the older woman's thighs.

At the first caress of Emma's fingers against her core, Regina moaned, biting down on Emma's lip at the feel. She rocked forwards, needing more, craving anything the blonde would give her. She felt Emma's fingers pinching her clit one final time before she dipped inside her, pushing deeper with each thrust as Regina gasped into their continued kiss.

It didn't take long for her to peak, so talented was Emma at reading her body language. She cried out as she came, her body convulsing with pleasure. She yelped as Emma flipped the two of them, panting as she landed on her back and looking down in confusion at the blonde head now scrambling down the bed. It wasn't until her thighs were pushed wide that she suddenly realised what was about to happen.

"Oh!" she screamed, thighs clamping shut on Emma's head.

The blonde struggled free and looked up the body before her, taking in Regina's stricken face.

"Are you ok?" Emma asked.

"What are you doing?" Regina countered.

"Um, going down on you," Emma said slowly.

"You're … licking me? There?"

Emma frowned. "Has … has no one ever performed oral sex on you before?"

"No," Regina said, suddenly shy. She tried to close her legs but Emma's body was still parked between them and she couldn't. Instead she reached for the duvet and tried ineffectually to throw it over her but Emma stopped the movement.

"Wait, Regina," Emma said gently. "There's nothing wrong with not having experienced this before. I don't think any differently about you or think any less because you're not experienced. I guess this just wasn't something you did in the Enchanted Forest?"

"I guess not," Regina said quietly. She didn't think she had ever heard of anyone even referencing the act Emma had been about to perform. She had to admit, however, that first lick had felt pretty damn good.

"Would you like me to do it now for you?" Emma asked.

There was a moment's silence and then a tentative nod. Her legs relaxed their grip on Emma who settled herself back down and then reached up to grasp each of Regina's hands in her own. Fingers intertwined, she lowered her mouth to Regina's wet core.

Emma had only sampled the briefest taste of Regina before but now she moaned at the tart flavour flowing over her tongue. Juices from the previous orgasm soaked Regina's folds and as the tip of Emma's tongue dipped inside, they only intensified. She could do this all night, Emma mused. But she knew also that she wanted to feel Regina come against her face. So she focused her attention on the hard little bundle of nerves at the top of the brunette's sex, sucking it into her mouth and twirling her tongue around it.

Fingers twitched and squeezed against Emma's as Regina writhed in ecstasy, building once more to her peak. She involuntarily pushed her hips up into Emma's mouth, demanding more. And Emma gave it; she always gave it. Her licks got firmer, her sucking became more intense, her teeth nibbled on Regina's clit until, blissfully, she exploded.

When Emma crawled up the spent woman, she placed a gentle kiss to Regina's cheek before lying down beside her. Her hand drifted up and down the bare stomach, across her sternum and along the line of her collarbone. Regina hummed in contentment at the lazy pattern and eventually turned her head to look at Emma.

"So," she said quietly. "I'm guessing that's what you meant by spark?"

Emma grinned. She had thought Regina was going to run, going to bolt away after their brief, vodka-fuelled encounter. She had thought this would have been something they would silently agree never to speak of, to think of, to want to experience again. But as Regina smiled back and rolled onto side, sliding a hand down between Emma's thighs, Emma realised that, perhaps, Regina was feeling exactly what she was herself.

Passion.

* * *

A/N: episode verdict please? Mine – Robin needs to die again, please. Hook cannot propose to Emma after realising he killed her grandfather. In fact, he can die too, please. Thanks! Also, I miss the Evil Queen and hate snakes so can that spell be reversed please?


	13. 06-13 - Ill-Boding Patterns

A/N: sorry for the delay. Blame a busy work week and the fact that there was ZERO contact between Emma and Regina during this episode. But musicloverxx17 on Twitter convinced me to write this and gave me the idea so you have her to thank for this.

* * *

"Where the hell is she?" Regina growled looking between the empty cage before her and her half-sister.

"I don't know!" Zelena defended. "Do you really think I would have been carrying around an empty cage if I had known?"

Regina scowled and pulled out her cellphone, dialling Emma's number. She shot another scathing look at Zelena as she waited for the blonde to answer. "Go and start looking for her, will you?" she said, nodding her head towards the vault entrance. Zelena pouted at the order but didn't argue. Instead she turned on the spot and stalked from the room.

"Regina, what's up?" came Emma's greeting a little breathlessly a few seconds later.

"Um, the Evil Queen in snake form has escaped," Regina said. "Are you ok?"

The sound of panting was coming down the phone and she thought Emma sounded a little flustered.

"Fine," Emma replied. "What was that?"

"Are you listening to me?" Regina snapped. "The Evil Queen. She's missing."

"Yeah she's a -" the comment was interrupted by a giggle and Emma shushing someone before she continued, "she's a snake."

"Yes, and she's missing," Regina reiterated. "Emma, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," came the unconvincing answer. "Um, ok. Missing snake Queen, huh? Ok, we'll be right there."

"We?" Regina frowned. "Oh, you're with Hook, aren't you?" The realisation dawned upon her that her phone call had interrupted something she really didn't want to think about.

"In every sense of the word," Emma replied.

Regina wrinkled her nose in disgust. The idea of that one handed pirate being intimate with Emma made her skin crawl. She still didn't understand how the blonde could stand to be touched by him and now she had to find out their passion for one another couldn't even be contained to the evenings.

"Sorry to disturb you," Regina said a little brusquely. "But I'm afraid you're going to need to … extricate yourself and come and help me find the Evil Queen as soon as possible."

"Sure, sure," Emma said. "We were just celebrating. I'll be right with you."

"Celebrating?"

"Hook proposed."

There was a long pause. Regina's mouth had fallen open in shock as her mind registered the words. He had finally asked her. He had finally summoned up the courage to ask Emma. Regina had known Hook was pathetically in love with Emma, had known he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the blonde. What she hadn't known, however, is that Emma felt the same. Judging by the blonde's happy tone when she had announced the news however, Emma wanted Hook just as much as Hook wanted the Saviour.

"Oh," Regina said after a silence far too long to be polite after such an announcement. "Congratulations."

There was a rustling from the other end of the phone and Regina heard footsteps before the click of a door closing. She closed her eyes, trying to force the image of Emma walking completely naked across the bedroom and away from Hook so she could shout at Regina. Because that was what the brunette felt sure was coming.

"Are you ok?"

The tone was soft and gentle and not at all what Regina expected.

"Ok?"

"Yeah," Emma said. "You sounded sad. Are you … are you not happy for me?"

"I'm surprised, I guess," Regina said, knowing she couldn't lie to Emma. She never had been able to. "I didn't realise you guys were that serious."

"We live together," Emma pointed out. "It was the next step."

"I guess," Regina shrugged.

Another awkward pause followed the noncommittal words.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Emma asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah," Regina said, throat thick with emotion. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just processing."

"Processing that your best friend got engaged to a man she loves?" Emma asked. "Is it so difficult for you to believe that?"

"No," Regina defended. "It's just been a long day and I … well, after the prophecy and the fact that Gideon is still in Storybrooke, I wasn't expecting you -"

"To be planning a future because I'm going to die?" Emma interrupted.

Regina winced. She realised how those words had sounded and that hadn't been how she meant them. In fact she suspected she was more confident than even Emma herself that the blonde would beat fate when it came to battling with Gold's son.

"No," Regina said quietly. "You're going to have a future, Emma. I just didn't see it being with Hook, to be honest."

"Who did you see me having a future with them?"

Another pause, this one more tense, more electric and more dangerous than those which had come before it. Regina took a deep breath before finally, in the tiniest voice, she spoke one final word.

"Me."

The click of the call ending followed seconds later and Regina sank to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

* * *

A/N: the insert I have planned for tomorrow's episode is going to be awesome.


	14. 06-14 - Page 23

A/N: sorry this took so long. I hope you like it though. I personally do. Very mildly NSWF (I was writing it in public and couldn't bring myself to go any more detailed with people looking over my shoulder!) Enjoy anyway. There's another Medical Mystery chapter in the works too …

* * *

"Emma, I'm happy for you," Regina said, the words catching as they were forced from her lips. "I really am."

She moved forward to hug the blonde, feeling as if the embrace may in some way cover the lie she had just told. But she should have known better. She should have known that Emma could tell how she truly felt; Emma always knew what she truly felt. As long, slender, toned arms wrapped around her shoulders, the barest of whispers reached Regina's ear.

"I don't believe you."

Emma pulled back and plastered a smile on her face, ignoring the feel of the ring on her finger which was suddenly very tight. Regina's familiar scent had made her heart pound, the distant memory of the brunette lying in her arms resurfacing after their brief hug.

"So, what were you saying about the Evil Queen?" Emma asked, desperately needing a distraction.

"She escaped," Zelena said, oblivious to the tension between two of the women in the room.

"What?" Snow gasped.

"It's not my fault," Zelena defended. "I figured she was trapped in that magical cage. It's not on me that you weren't able to keep her in there," she shot at Emma.

Ignoring the retort, Emma turned to Regina. Regardless of the fact that she knew the two of them spending any time together when they were both feeling … whatever they were feeling was a bad idea, she also knew their best hope of finding and re-imprisoning the Evil Queen was if they worked together.

"Where do you think she'd have gone?" Emma asked.

"I don't know," Regina admitted. "She can't leave the town but she wasn't at Zelena's farmhouse or my vault. I didn't know where else to begin looking so I just came here." The words 'to you' were left unsaid.

"Let's go then," Emma said, grabbing her coat from the back of a dining chair and heading towards the door.

Regina followed without question, leaving Snow and Zelena alone in the kitchen.

"So," Zelena said after a while, "you're going to have a pirate as a son-in-law."

Snow beamed at the thought and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes and hopefully soon I'll have another little grandchild to spoil."

* * *

Outside, the streets were white and empty, the recent snowfall forcing everyone inside. Regina pulled her jacket more closely around her and muttered a spell to keep herself snug. She hated winters in Maine. Emma was beside her, rubbing her hands together in an attempt to warm them up. Regina looked away as she saw the ring glinting in the pale sunlight.

"Where do we start?" Emma asked, turning to Regina.

"No idea," Regina replied, truthfully.

Emma scanned the street, as if expecting to see either the Evil Queen herself on the snake version appearing before their eyes. Neither form did, of course so she began considering what she would do if she was a snake and needed to return to human form.

"Are you sure she wasn't at your vault?" Emma asked, unable to think of another place in Storybrooke where the Queen would be able to get her hands (or tail) on something which would be able to free her from her animalistic prison.

"Why did you say yes?"

The question hung in the air; frozen, bitter, pained. Emma couldn't bring herself to look at the woman beside her, couldn't bear to see the sadness she knew would be etched on the beautiful features. No answer she could give would be enough, no answer would make Regina feel better, nor Emma, for that matter. The only solution which would make either of them feel good had been vehemently refused by Regina herself. Several times.

"I couldn't wait any longer," Emma admitted before setting off down the street in the direction of the graveyard.

She had barely gone ten yards, however, when a plume of purple smoke appeared before her and she came face to face with an anguished looking Regina.

"You were still waiting?" she asked, brown eyes wide.

"I've been waiting for three years," Emma said. "You knew that. I told you, I asked you, Regina. I gave you the chance to see what was between us and again and again you shut me down, told me to give you time. Three years, Regina. Three years. And you know what? During that time I came to care for Hook. I really do. So when I found that ring, yeah, I decided I couldn't continue to put my life on pause for someone who I don't think will ever be ready to -"

More purple smoke appeared, this time swirling around both women as their surroundings melted into the distance. Emma huffed out her annoyance, memories of Regina using her magic to transport them somewhere secluded so regularly three years ago making her heart clench. She didn't know where they were going but she had a pretty good idea.

"See, she's not here," Regina said, waving her arm to illustrate the empty vault.

"Yeah," Emma deadpanned. "That's why you brought me here."

Regina blushed. "Did you really want to have that conversation right outside your parents' apartment?"

"What conversation? There's nothing to say, Regina. I waited for you for three years. We keep getting closer and then you start pulling away. Every time I think we are getting somewhere, finally talking normally again, you freak out and disappear on me."

"Do you think it's easy?" Regina spat. "Do you think I like seeing you with _him_?"

"I only started dating Hook because you told me we could never be together," Emma shot back. "I wanted you, Regina. I wanted us. I thought that was what you wanted too. Those weeks in Neverland were amazing, we both know that. Why did everything have to change once we got back -"

"To reality," Regina interrupted. "We came back to reality, Emma. With our son and your family and Storybrooke. You know we couldn't have continued … whatever that was. You know it wouldn't have worked."

"No, I don't know that," Emma said, "because you never gave us a chance. We've had this argument so many times, Gina. Why were you so convinced we would fail? What was it about me, or us, that you had so little faith in?"

"It wasn't you," Regina said, internally cringing at the cliché.

"No, it was you," Emma bit back, ignoring the flinch of hurt from the brunette. "You were the one who ended things. You were the one who told me to forget what we had, what we felt for each other. You were the one too scared to take a chance and -"

"I was fucking petrified," Regina shouted, the words echoing off the cold stone walls. Emma's eyes widened. It wasn't unusual for Regina to shout at her when they started their arguments about what had happened between them. But the truth, the raw, unmasked and pained truth Regina had just exposed, that was unusual. "I was petrified," Regina repeated, quieter this time. "Everyone I've ever been with is dead. I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't put you at risk like that. I had to push you away, I had to protect you from me. I'm … cursed."

She sank onto the lid of a closed chest, elbows on her knees and head in her hands. Emma hesitated before walking over to sit beside her, reaching out to pat Regina on the back.

"It's ok," Emma soothed, unsure exactly what the brunette had just admitted.

"It's not," Regina said, her voice thick with emotion. "You're right, Emma. I was the one who fucked things up. I was the one who pushed you to start your relationship with Hook. I'm the reason you're now engaged to someone you don't even love."

"I do love him," Emma said without thinking.

The body beneath her palm tensed, the ragged breathing hitching in Regina's throat. "Oh."

If it was possible to feel someone's heart break, to feel their soul shatter beneath one's touch, Emma was sure that was what was happening to Regina in that moment. Whether it was because she had magic or because Regina did or simply the strength of the emotions involved, Emma's fingertips could feel the beautiful woman beside her crumbling.

"I love you too."

The words were bare whispers but it was enough. Regina's body stilled, the tears still flowing down her cheeks but her heart tingled with hope. Slowly, she raised her face to look at Emma, the nervous smile so familiar and yet one she hadn't seen in three years.

"You do?" Regina asked, voice hoarse.

"You know I do," Emma said gently. "I've told you a million times, Regina. It's never going to change."

"But Hook -"

"Is a sweet guy," Emma finished. "But he's not you."

"You said yes to him," Regina frowned. "Why?"

Emma shrugged. "Maybe I was hoping it would spur you into action. Maybe I thought this was going to be the thing which finally made you realise what you want, what we could have."

"Which is?"

"You tell me," Emma smiled. "What do you want, Regina? You know where I stand, you know what I've wanted for three years, from the moment we first kissed in Neverland. I've never hidden my feelings for you, I've never denied how much I've wanted the two of us to be together. I don't care about this so called curse you think you have from which everyone close to you ends up dead. I've loved you for three years and I'm still standing. I was just waiting for you to realise that."

"Are you still waiting?" Regina asked.

"I'll always be waiting for you," Emma said. "As long as it takes."

Regina searched the genuine face beside her, taking in the delicate features she knew so well. She remembered lying on the forest floor in Neverland, fingertips grazing over those defined cheekbones, tracing the pale lips, cupping that sharp jaw, pulling the blonde closer until … No one had looked at her the way Emma Swan did since Daniel. Not Graham, not Robin, not anyone. She wondered how she looked at Emma, whether her eyes were equally filled with passion, desire and love. No, there was no wondering. She knew exactly how she looked at Emma. She had tried to hide it, tried to tamp down her emotions, tried to move on, distract herself with Robin. But it hadn't worked.

She reached across and took Emma's hand in her own. Gently, slowly, giving Emma more than enough time to pull away, she began to slide the engagement ring from the slender, pale finger. Emma watched, transfixed, as the band moved steadily down until it passed over her nail and dropped to the floor. It tinkled as it hit the flagstone, both women staring as it rocked for several seconds before settling on its side, the diamond facing away from them.

"No more waiting," Regina breathed, looking once again into the green eyes beside her. "I'm done waiting, Emma."

"Are you sure?" Emma asked, her heart pounding almost painfully against her chest. "I don't think I could take another rejection, Gina. If you're not one hundred per cent, if you're not completely sure this is -"

Lips covering Emma's mouth silenced the question, answered the question. It barely took a second for Emma to respond, to wrap her arms around Regina and pull her closer, moaning at the feel of the woman back in her arms at last. It might have been three years since they had last been together but the memories came flooding back. The feeling of their bodies, bare and slick against one another, moving fluidly, easily, perfectly, pressed against the forest floor, hidden by a cloaking spell Regina had cast in case another member of the rescue party came to look for them. It might have been the loss of Henry which had forced the two mothers together, that had finally allowed each of them to see that they weren't so different, that they didn't have to be enemies, that, in fact, they could be something so much more enjoyable to one another.

The kiss escalated, hands wandering inside winter coats, seeking out the bodies which had been craved, missed, desired for so long. It didn't take long for the two women to undress, lying atop their discarded clothes to protect themselves against the hard stone beneath them. It was rushed, perhaps, neither woman even able to wait their turn as fingers dipped between thighs, sliding easily inside one another, pumping in unison as they drove one another to their peak. They tumbled into their orgasms, Emma's cry quickly followed by one of Regina's as they crested, their bodies rocking against one another, slick with sweat and still hot with desire.

They could easily have spent the rest of the day in the vault, re-exploring one another, remembering what they liked, what they could do together, how it felt to be with someone who understood them so completely. But Regina's cell phone rang, the shrill noise splitting their post-coital bliss brutally apart.

"The Evil Queen," Regina breathed. "I forgot."

"I am pretty good," Emma smirked, kissing Regina once more before sitting up beginning to get dressed.

Regina rolled her eyes at the boastful blonde but couldn't deny it. Emma was by far the most attentive lover she had ever lain with. She had lost track of the number of times over the past three years that she had craved the touch of the woman now pulling her skinny jeans on, wishing she could reach out, stop the process and tempt Emma back to bed. But she didn't and instead reached for her phone to answer the call.

"What is it, Zelena?"

"We've found the Evil Queen," her half-sister informed her. "Where did you and Emma disappear to?"

"We've been looking for her too," Regina lied. "Where is she?"

"Your office," Zelena replied. "She's got Robin."

"Why?" Regina frowned.

"As a hostage," Zelena said. "Judging by the fact that this letter she sent to you is written in her handwriting, I'm guessing she isn't a snake any more."

"And she's holding hostage an alternate universe version of a man I once dated?" Regina asked, watching Emma's eyebrows raise in amusement.

"Yeah, apparently," Zelena said. "So, what's your plan?"

Regina sighed. It might not have been her Robin and the man himself had never come anywhere close to meaning as much as Emma did to her but he was still a person. He still didn't deserve to suffer at the hands of her evil self.

"I'm on my way," Regina said, hanging up the call.

"On your way where?" Emma asked, now dressed.

"To my office," Regina said, beginning to gather her own clothes. "The Evil Queen has Robin, apparently."

"Better go and save him then," Emma said.

"Indeed," Regina nodded. "But once I'm done with that, I'm coming straight back to you. Robin and I were … I mean, I liked him but … it was never … I needed a distraction, basically."

"I know," Emma assured.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For making you wait so long, for hiding my feelings behind Robin, for pushing you to be with Hook, or at least not standing up for how I felt and allowing you to be captured by his … charm?"

"Hey, I'm the charming one," Emma joked.

"Indeed you are," Regina said. "A _Charming_ I managed to resist for three years."

"But no longer," Emma grinned. "I'm never letting you resist me again." Regina raised her eyebrow. "Ok, that came out wrong but you know what I mean."

Regina laughed. "I do, and I have no intention of ever resisting you. But right now I do have to resist my desire to take all of your clothes off and go and rescue a man who is a pale imitation of someone I was once using as a distraction, sorry."

"Understood," Emma nodded. "I suppose I have a job to do too."

She bent down and picked up the discarded engagement ring from the floor, angling it in her fingers so the light refracted through the diamond. It was a beautiful ring, she admitted. But from the moment Regina had slid it from her finger, her body had felt free. She needed to go and find Hook and explain to him. She wasn't sure how he would take it but she also knew it wasn't fair to him to keep up the illusion of their relationship. No, it hadn't always been an illusion, she reasoned. He was a sweet guy and he did love her, as she cared for him. But the only reason they had got together in the first place was because Emma needed a distraction from Regina. It may have morphed into more but what she and Hook had shared would never have come close to what she had with Regina. She slid the ring in her pocket and watched as Regina stood up and buttoned her coat.

"I'll come and find you later," she said. "Once I've vanquished the evil half of me."

"You know, I loved you when you were one person," Emma said. "I loved the evil part of you too."

"The evil part of me was contained, controlled when she was inside me. The woman who's holding Robin captive is not. I need to stop her, Emma, for everyone's sake. Especially if she realises that she's not holding hostage the person who truly has my heart."

Emma grinned dopily at the sentiment. "Go and do what you have to do," she said. "I'll see you later."

Regina nodded, leaned in for a final kiss which came close to escalating out of control again before she turned and headed out of her vault. Just before she disappeared, she stopped and looked back.

"I love you too, by the way."


	15. 06-15 - A Wondrous Place

A/N: I am very much enjoying the fact that both of our beautiful ladies are single for once! Not that I really had any qualms about making them cheat on the pathetic men the show had forced upon them but still… enjoy! NSFW, naturally.

* * *

"Right," Regina acknowledged at Emma's dismissive answer. "But are you mad, sad? Do you feel like throwing things or crying your eyes out?"

"I feel like punching something," Emma said bluntly. "Or someone."

"Hook?"

Emma winced even at the name. Regina felt a pang of guilt; she hadn't wanted to upset Emma more than she already was. But she also knew that wallowing in her own misery after the loss of a loved one helped no one. And in her case led to the casting of a curse which destroyed an entire realm. She didn't think Emma was that angry or upset just yet but addressing feelings was always better than ignoring them. It had taken Regina a long time to learn that but she understood now. Bottling up feelings never helped anyone. And she should know.

"Yeah," Emma said after taking a long drink from her beer. "I want to punch Hook."

"Why?" Regina asked, wondering how much Emma would really tell her this time about the relationship with the pirate. Her friend had always been rather dismissive of any details in the past, even before Hook had left. Not that she really wanted to hear about the two of them together; it hurt too much.

"Because he fucking left me," Emma spat at last. "I told him I'd marry him and then he left me, Regina. I trusted him, I let him into my heart and my life and he destroyed that. He just walked away like none of it mattered, like it meant nothing to him."

"You gave him back the ring," Regina pointed out, a gesture which had offered her a flicker of hope when she heard. "Maybe he thought you were walking from him and he wanted to give you some space."

Emma glowered at her friend and Regina recoiled slightly. "I didn't want him to fucking leave," she hissed. "I wanted him to take some time to think about the fact that he murdered my grandfather. I told him I still wanted to be with him but only when he was ready to be in a functioning, adult relationship where we didn't keep secrets from each other."

The rest of the beer disappeared down Emma's throat and she signalled to the bartender for another. Regina watched in mild despair as Emma finally broke down before her. The tears spilled from her eyes, sliding down the pale cheeks and dripping onto the bar.

"Emma," she started gently, "do you really think the two of you could have got past the fact that he killed David's father?"

"You killed Snow's," Emma pointed out.

Regina blushed. She hated it when her former crimes were brought up even though she knew she deserved the blame for her past misdeeds. It had been her who committed them, after all. But that wasn't who she was any more, even after splitting from her dark half and then reabsorbing part of that evil. She had changed, for good.

"You're right," Regina conceded. "But it seems Hook didn't think you would be able to get over this history."

"Or he didn't love me enough to bother trying."

The pain in Emma's voice made Regina reach out, looping her arm around Emma's shoulders. When she wasn't shrugged off, she shuffled closer until they were sat side by side. After a short while, Emma laid her head against Regina, trembling slightly with her sobs. Regina's heartbeat quickened at the display of vulnerability.

"He loved you, Emma," Regina said quietly. "You were everything to him."

"Then why did he leave?" Emma whispered. "Why didn't he stay so we could work this out?"

Regina didn't answer. She had no idea what Hook's reasons for leaving were. To be honest, she didn't really care. Although she had been trying to comfort Emma, a large part of her was glad the pirate was gone. She always believed Emma deserved more, deserved better, deserved someone who truly understood her. But those weren't the thoughts that would help Emma in that moment. Not yet. Beer, however, might.

Emma was making steady progress through her second pint and Regina signalled for another and ordered herself a cocktail. Snow had started up a game of darts with the men who had been playing pool when they first arrived but Regina stayed at the bar, sitting with Emma as they steadily drowned her sorrows. Although no one had mentioned it, Regina was getting over a broken heart too. She had been so hopeful when the Robin from that alternate reality had made it back through the portal with them. She believed she had found her second chance, that she had got Robin back, that she could be with someone who cared for her again. But it was not to be and the shadow of her former lover had, inadvertently, shattered her dreams of a happy ending.

Two shot glasses filled with a clear liquid landed in front of the women.

"On the house," Aesop said with a sympathetic look between the two of them.

Regina nodded her thanks and Emma shot him a sad smile. They reached simultaneously for the drinks and downed them. The tequila burned their throats and Regina coughed, wishing she had a lime to bite into and take away the sharp taste on her tongue.

"Two more," Emma called after the bartender, "with salt and lime this time, please."

The drinks arrived quickly and followed the first, Regina gratefully allowing the lime juice to fill her mouth this time, relishing in the feeling of the alcohol seeping into her bloodstream.

"Fuck him," Emma said as she waved for two more shots.

"Aesop?"

Emma barked out a laugh. "Hook," she clarified. "Fuck him for leaving me. If he was too weak to stick around. If he couldn't be bothered to try and work through the fact that he's a murderer, then fuck him. I believed in us, in our future but it's clear he never did. I'm done. I'm over him. I'm moving on."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded, throwing back the third tequila shot. "Come on, let's dance."

The bar wasn't exactly buzzing with life but the throb of alcohol through both women's veins offered them enough to get them started. They headed to the small dance floor and began to move. A few other patrons were already there, enjoying music which Aesop had just turned louder at the sight of people beginning to dance. Snow joined them soon, the three of them dancing in a circle as the music built and a bass resonated through the room.

It didn't take long for everyone in the bar to join them and soon Emma was actually smiling, enjoying the atmosphere of carefree, drunken fun. She grinned as she watched her mother do the robot, glancing at Regina who was also laughing. Snow tried to fit in with the modern world but was still an Enchanted Forest princess at heart. Her dance moves truly were terrible.

A tall, dark-haired man approached Emma and handed her a drink. She took it with a thanks and smiled up at him. It wasn't someone she knew but she didn't really care and he was rather attractive. At least someone thought she was worth their time. He began to dance and she joined him, allowing him to pull her a little closer, hands on her waist. She sipped her drink, the alcohol barely registering now as she felt him step closer. Just as his hips began to press insistently against her stomach, she felt cool fingers clasp around her wrist.

"Come on, Emma," Regina said, gently tugging the blonde backwards.

She turned around, confused. Regina ignored the look at shot daggers at the man who was about to open his mouth to protest at the removal of the beautiful blonde. She steered Emma to the far side of the dance floor and handed her a glass of water.

"What?" Emma asked, pulling her hand free from Regina's grasp and taking the offered drink, only to dump it unceremoniously on the bar.

"That wasn't a good idea," Regina said simply. "He won't make you feel any better."

"He might," Emma retorted. "He might make me feel something, at least. What's the harm?"

"You'll regret it," Regina sighed. "Come on, let's go and join Snow."

"I won't regret it," Emma said, turning back to the man whose face split into a wide grin as she headed towards him.

Regina scowled as she watched Emma sashay back to the man and press herself up against him, closer than before. She turned away as the man bent down, unable to watch as their lips pressed together. She knew what Emma was trying to do, she knew the blonde just wanted to feel desired again. She had been exactly the same after Robin had died. She had lost track of the number of men she had met in bars in the months following his death. None of them had filled the void, however, none of them had mended her broken heart. None of them had distracted her from what she truly wanted. All she had been left with was a feeling of emptiness and disgust at how easily she had given her body to men she didn't even know. She didn't want that for Emma. If Emma wanted to feel something again, if she wanted to feel desired, then there had to be a better way.

"What the -"

Emma didn't have time to finish the sentence as she was pulled forcefully from the man and Regina's mouth covered her own, replacing the chapped lips of the dark haired stranger. Emma's eyes widened in surprise as she felt the tip of Regina's tongue tease her lips and slide past them. At the first touch of hot flesh against her own, her eyes fluttered closed and her hands flew to Regina's waist, a vague attempt at anchoring herself to something solid, tangible.

Regina's flesh burned hot through the black shirt, Emma's fingertips digging slightly into her sides as their mouths continued to move against one another. And then suddenly Emma was pulling away, her brain kicking into gear and registering what was happening.

"Regina," she gasped, eyes wide as she stepped backwards. "What the fuck was that?"

The brunette look calmly back at her friend, undeterred. "If you want to feel something, feel it with me, not someone you don't know."

"You?" Emma frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I've done the whole sleeping with strangers to get over a break-up, it doesn't work," Regina said simply. "And I'd rather the Saviour didn't disappear with someone unknown when the whole town is threatened by Gideon. If you need sex tonight, then fine. But not with him."

"With you?"

"Don't act like it would be your first time with a woman," Regina shrugged.

Emma blushed. How did Regina know that? She had never told anyone about her past lovers. As far as everyone in Storybrooke knew, she was straight.

"Regina, we're friends," Emma said slowly. "Don't you think it would -"

"Complicate matters?" Regina asked. "No, I think it might actually make things clear to you, to us, for once."

"What things?" Emma said, forehead furrowed.

Regina stepped back towards Emma, her arms wrapping slowly around the blonde's waist, giving her a chance to pull away. She didn't, her green eyes curious as her best friend's body pressed against her own once more.

"Maybe there was another reason Hook left," she said quietly. "Maybe there was something he couldn't ignore any longer. Maybe it's finally time for you to accept how you feel."

Emma swallowed thickly. How long had Regina known? Had it really been obvious? She thought she had done a good job hiding her desire for the brunette. Ever since she had met Henry's adoptive mother the fire inside her had burned white hot. Even when they were fighting one another, battling over their son, her lust for the beautiful woman had never faltered. But she'd also never acted on it. She'd forced herself not to stare, not to imagine the two of them together, not to let the woman know in any way how she felt. It was one of the reasons why she had got together with Hook in the first place. He had been a welcome distraction on those long nights in Neverland with Regina sleeping just metres away from her. And then, yes, she had grown to truly care for the pirate, to love him. She wanted to marry him, in fact. When she had found the ring she knew it was finally time to give up on her harboured dream, her desire, her unattainable hope.

"You know?" she whispered.

"From the moment I met you," Regina nodded. "That was why I tried to drive you away, Emma. I couldn't have someone like you in my life back then. I couldn't risk hurting someone like you. Everyone I've ever been with has died. I knew I couldn't allow that to happen to you, not to Henry's mother, not to … my Emma."

"But Robin -"

"You were with Hook," Regina defended. "I saw you trying to move on, I saw you keeping your distance and I did the same."

"And now?"

"And now I'm tired of pretending," Regina said. "I'm tired of running from this, from us. For six years we've been hiding our feelings, stringing along other men when we've always known our fate lies with someone else."

Emma's eyes widened. "Fate?"

Regina nodded. "I believe so, yes," she said. "The Evil Queen and the Saviour? It seems only right, doesn't it?"

"I don't know," Emma admitted. "I mean, yes I've thought about it. God, I've dreamed about this, us," she pulled Regina closer, her own arms now encircling the brunette, oblivious to everyone else in the bar, "and what it would be like for so long. But I thought it would never happen. I thought I'd be with Hook. I was going to marry him, remember?"

"And he left," Regina said. "He left, Emma. I'm still here."

She surged forward and kissed the startled blonde, unable to resist. Emma kissed her back instinctively, her tongue entering Regina's mouth for the first time. She could taste the lime from their earlier shots and shivered in delight.

"Did you offer to sleep with me to help me get over Hook or because you want me?" Emma asked when they broke apart.

"Both?" Regina suggested. "I've wanted you for a long time, Emma. And no, this isn't exactly how I thought we would get together but I can't wait any longer. I can't see you with another man, not after the years I've had to watch you with Hook."

"I had to watch you with Robin," Emma bit back.

"No you didn't," Regina said. "If you had been honest with me from the start, we could have been together all this time."

"You didn't tell me how you felt," Emma pointed out.

"I wanted to," Regina argued.

"So did I," Emma countered. "But you seemed too busy trying to kill me."

Regina couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Emma ducked down to kiss the grinning lips. "Forgiven, but can we get out of here now? People are starting to stare."

Regina glanced around and noticed that half of the dance floor was indeed looking at the two women, wrapped in one another's arms. Snow, had returned to the darts board however and was completely oblivious. And very drunk.

They untangled themselves, paid their tab and went to collect Snow. The three women walked through the cold, snowy streets until they reached Snow's apartment. Wishing her goodnight, Regina and Emma continued down the street, an unspoken agreement that they would be going to Regina's mansion. Henry was at Emma's house and neither woman wanted to explain what had happened to their son. Emma sent him a quick text wishing him goodnight and asking him to lock up and then slipped her phone away. Seconds later, Regina's fingers threaded through her own.

The mansion was dark when they arrived. Once their coats were shed, Regina flicked on the hallway light and bathed the space in a soft light. She saw Emma, standing inches from her, fingers fidgeting by her sides. At Regina's nod of consent, the blonde kissed her hard, backing her into the wall and pinning her there with her lips, breasts pressed together.

"Don't you want to talk more?" Regina panted as Emma's mouth left her own and began to trail kisses up her jaw.

"No," Emma said. "I'm done talking."

Regina groaned as her ear lobe was sucked into Emma's hot mouth, the tongue swirling around the sensitive flesh. She gripped the back of Emma's shirt, gasping as she felt the tip of her tongue dip into the shell of her ear. She was glad she was trapped between the wall and Emma's body because her knees were suddenly feeling very weak.

"Upstairs," she murmured as Emma's fingers began to unbutton her shirt.

The plume of white smoke encircled them and seconds later Regina found herself lying on her bed completely naked. She looked up at an equally bare Emma, now straddling her hips and gazing appreciatively at the woman below her.

"Impatient much?" Regina smirked as Emma's mouth fell to her chest and began to kiss her exposed breasts.

"It's been six years," Emma mumbled against the soft flesh. "I think I've been pretty fucking patient."

Regina gave a low, throaty laugh which turned into a gasp of delight as Emma's teeth grazed against her hard nipple, a tongue teasing the sensitive tip. Emma switched to the other side, skin glistening with her saliva on the breast she left behind. Regina cupped the back of Emma's head, pulling her closer. She needed this, she needed to feel Emma. Finally.

It didn't take long for Emma to begin moving southwards, her lips burning white-hot over Regina's skin until she reached the apex of her thighs. Regina said a silent prayer of thanks that she had visited the salon two days earlier and judging by the look on Emma's face when she gazed for the first time at the bare sex, the blonde was grateful too.

"Fuck you're gorgeous," Emma said, her eyes roving up Regina's body.

The brunette blushed at the brash compliment, her chest heaving slightly as she watched Emma lower her mouth to her core for the first time.

It had been a long time since anyone had performed oral sex on her. Robin had refused, his Enchanted Forest mindset not allowing him to understand how pleasurable it could be for Regina. The only upside was that he also hadn't expected her to suck him off, something Regina always disliked doing. It was Graham who had last been so intimately acquainted with her core and that was only because she had magically commanded him to do so. Emma, however, needed no such encouragement.

Regina sighed in delight at the blonde's tongue slid through her folds, gathering up the essence already coating them. She ran circles around Regina's clit, never quite touching it, before returning to lap at the entrance and then pushing her tongue inside. Regina cried out as Emma's tongue delved inside her just as the blonde reached up to push Regina's thighs wider. She opened herself up fully, allowing Emma to feast on her, delighting in the feel.

Emma's tongue moved away but was instantly replaced with two fingers, sliding easily inside the tight passage. Regina gasped and rocked her hips, meeting Emma's shallow thrusts.

"Deeper," she moaned, needing more, needing everything.

Obliging at once, Emma pushed her fingers further just as her tongue returned to finally lap at Regina's clit. The brunette swore, her orgasm rushing towards her embarrassinly fast. It had been too long, clearly since she had been with someone, or at least someone who truly knew how to please a woman. Emma didn't let up, her tongue moving frantically as she pumped first with two then three fingers, driving Regina to her peak and over the top. Regina screamed through her release, Emma's name bouncing off the walls as her pleasure crashed over her body, Emma's ministrations dragging it out until at last she had to push the blonde gently away, the stimulation too much.

Emma crawled straight up the spent woman, kissing her hard and sharing the flavour of Regina's come with her lover. She could feel Regina's breathing heavily into the kiss, struggling to concentrate as her body recovered but she didn't care. She needed to feel Regina. After six years the dam had finally broken and her desire for the woman was overwhelming. Straddling Regina's leg, she began to rub her own wet core against the toned thigh. It took Regina less than a minute to realise what Emma was doing.

"No, I want to taste you too," Regina said, flipping the pair with surprising strength.

Emma looked shocked and then extremely aroused when she realised what Regina had done and let out a moan of desire as a hand cupped her wanton sex. Within seconds Regina was between her own thighs, mouth covering her core and her tongue twirling over her entrance. After six years, foreplay was something neither woman really had time for.

It became apparent very quickly that this was not Regina's first time with a woman and Emma found herself close to her peak in minutes, a talented tongue expertly playing her clit until she was trembling and arching into the brunette's mouth. She too came apart, her juices flooding into Regina's mouth as her tongue dipped inside, the musky flavour something Regina knew she would never get enough of.

When at last her body stopped convulsing with pleasure, Regina lay beside Emma, arm over her stomach and leg over her hips, sweaty bodies pressed tightly together. Emma turned to kiss the brunette, the taste of her own essence and Regina herself simply divine.

"That was amazing," Emma murmured. "You're amazing."

"Thank you," Regina replied, head resting on Emma's shoulder. "You're incredible too."

There was another silence and then; "why did we wait so long?"

"I don't know," Regina admitted. "But I have no intention of wasting a second of our time now we're together."

"Together?" Emma asked, teasingly.

"Yes, Miss Swan," Regina said in a tone which made Emma's sex clench in delight. "We're together now. And I know you just broke up with Hook but -"

"I love you."

The words hung in the air, heavy and intense and fast and serious but oh so real.

"I love you too," Regina whispered, the words finally escaping her lips after six long years.

"Then let's move on," Emma said. "Hook, Robin, the engagement. It's in the past, ok? We're the future, Regina. You, me and Henry. Maybe now we can be the family we all deserve."


	16. 06-16 - Mother's Little Helper

A/N: sorry this is not only delayed but incredibly short. There wasn't actually a line between our ladies in this episode so I used one between Regina and Henry and added a scene which the show totally should have included …

* * *

"Henry?" Regina frowned, the air in her vault dropping several degrees. "Henry?" She stepped closer, noticing how one of her son's eyes had taken on a milk white hue as his hand skittered frantically back and forth across the page, drawing out symbols she could make no sense of. "HENRY!"

The boy dropped to the floor, the quill clattering against the flagstones beside him. Regina fell to her knees beside him, taking his face in her hands and looking desperately at him. He was unconscious, she realised. Feeling for a pulse she was relieved to feel it racing beneath her fingers and, with difficulty, heaved her ever-growing son onto the couch against the stone wall of the room. Once he was settled, she reached for her cell.

* * *

Emma felt her phone vibrate as she climbed back down the clock tower staircase after Gideon. She pulled it out, took in the photo of the brunette smiling up at her, and answered.

"What's up, Regina?" she asked.

"Something's happened to Henry."

"What? Is he ok?"

"I don't know," Regina admitted. "He was writing with the quill and then he just went into some kind of trance and collapsed."

"Is he breathing?"

"Yes," Regina said, now sitting beside Henry and holding his hand. His skin was clammy against her own but she could see his chest rising and falling with gentle breaths. "I think he fainted."

"Why?" Emma asked as she stepped out into Main Street and followed Gideon who seemed to be heading out of town. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Regina said. "He was writing a list of things I needed from your shed in the book and then something just happened to him. His eyes went weird and he's written these bizarre shapes on the paper that don't look like anything I've ever seen before. Then he just collapsed and he hasn't woken up yet. Can you come?"

"I can't."

There was a silence and then; "what?"

"I can't come," Emma repeated, still walking a few steps behind Gideon who was indeed leading them towards the edge of Storybrooke. "I'm with Gideon. He's going to try and help me get to Hook."

"Hook?" Regina gasped. "You're choosing your former fiancé who disappeared from town because you told him to over our son?"

Emma winced at the bite in Regina's voice. A wave of guilt washed over her. "I have to try and find him," she argued. "He's been missing almost two weeks and I never wanted him to actually leave."

"Who the fuck cares," Regina exploded. "Our son; your son, is lying on the couch in my vault after having just been possessed by some strange power neither of us have ever encountered before and you want to run around after some smelly, murderous pirate who fucked off out of this town as soon as your pitiful excuse for a relationship hit a snag? Get your fucking priorities straight, Miss Swan."

"Don't Miss Swan me," Emma hissed as she stopped walking. "And don't speak about my relationship with Hook as if you know what we had. I loved him. I mean, I do love him." Emma felt her cheeks reddening as she realised the linguistic slip she had just made. "I need to find my fiancé, Regina."

"You need to be with your real family," Regina said, her voice much softer now. "Henry would never leave you like Hook did, Emma." There was a pause and then; "nor would I."

Emma glanced up at Gideon who had backtracked when he realised the blonde had stopped following him and now stood looking a little disgruntled at Emma's distracted nature.

"I'll be right there," Emma said before she hung up and began to explain to Gideon that there was something she needed to do, somewhere she needed to be, someone she needed to see.


	17. 06-17 - Awake

A/N: sorry, I got behind. It's hard to be inspired by some of the stuff we're lumbered with on this show. But Lana's beautiful face gets me through! So I decided to take one line completely out of context and write some shameless smut for you all just because I can! This is properly NSFW and contains anal sex.

* * *

"Regina, please tell me there's enough," Emma panted, her body aching for attention.

"Patience, beautiful," Regina drawled from the foot of the bed where she was rummaging through their play chest. The ornate box was kept locked at all times, in case Henry stumbled upon their extensive collection of toys accidentally.

Emma whined and strained against the ropes keeping her wrists anchored to either bed post. Regina glanced up and smirked at her frustrated wife before resuming her search. Two empty bottles had already been discarded on the floor.

"I thought I told you to buy more," Regina said, moving aside a leather paddle and reaching deeper into the box.

"I was going to but then I ran into Grumpy at the pharmacy. That man is the worse gossip in Storybrooke and I knew it would be all around town if he'd seen me buying it," Emma defended. "Plus I thought we had some left."

"We do," Regina said, standing up triumphant with a small bottle in her hands.

Emma's eyes darkened as she watched her wife walk around the foot of the bed and crawl back towards her over the mattress. The strap-on swung from Regina's pubis, thick and long. She settled between the spread legs of the blonde and softly caressed the tender skin of her inner thighs, depositing the bottle on the bed.

"You're so beautiful," Regina murmured as she gazed down at the bare sex before her, the flesh still glistening with Emma's essence from an earlier orgasm. "I'm so lucky."

She leaned up the bed and placed a chaste kiss to Emma's lips. The blonde craned her neck, trying to deepen the contact but before she could, Regina pulled away, leaving her pouting and craving more. Regina ignored her wife's face and instead lay on her stomach, the strap-on pressed somewhat uncomfortably between her body and the bed. But she didn't care and any discomfort she felt melted away when her tongue came into contact with the tangy centre before her.

Emma cried out as Regina's mouth went to work. Her body was already taut, excited, ready. They had spent much of the afternoon in bed, taking advantage of Henry being away on a camping trip with David. When Emma had suggested they get the strap-on involved, Regina had been more than keen. The custom-made harness fitted perfectly, hanging low on her curvaceous hips and making her feel powerful and utterly sexy. Emma loved it too; both for the way Regina looked while wearing it and the way the brunette's personality changed as she took charge.

Hands pressed gently against Emma's inner thighs, encouraging them wider. She complied at once as Regina buried her face even closer to her sex. She rocked her hips upwards, riding the eager tongue now probing her entrance. Regina permitted the move for a few seconds before sliding her tongue lower, teasing the tight ring of muscles with the tip. Emma whimpered. She was unashamed to admit how much she enjoyed feeling her wife's tongue laving her ass.

Regina swirled her tongue around the rosebud, teasing the over-sensitised flesh and working to relax the sphincter. Soon, she was able to push the tip a little way inside, feeling Emma's body permit the intrusion. With her mouth returned to sucking the blonde's clit, she placed her finger against Emma's tightest hole. Wet from her own saliva, it didn't take long for her finger to slide inside, using gentle, slow, tender pushes until she was buried inside the blonde.

Emma whimpered, her body thrumming with want. She could feel Regina's finger deep within her, the invasion both intimate and taboo. Except it wasn't. Anal play had been part of their relationship for years and both women enjoyed giving and receiving this pleasure. They just didn't want the whole of Storybrooke to know.

A second finger edged its way into Emma's asshole, her body stretched wider. It didn't hurt; Regina was always sure to go as slowly as necessary and never push Emma beyond what she could take. The blonde's body was beginning to tremble, the need for an orgasm mounting. Regina contemplated bringing her to her peak using her tongue on her clit but decided she couldn't wait any longer. She pulled her mouth away and, with two fingers still deep inside Emma, knelt on the bed. Reaching for a discarded pillow in the mess of bedsheets, Regina encouraged Emma to lift her hips so she could slide a pillow beneath them, angling her pelvis in the right way. So many people assumed anal sex had to be done in the crassly named 'doggy-style' position but the two women found the intimate act much more pleasurable when they were facing one another. It also allowed both women to better judge the comfort levels of the other, something which was particularly important when one of them was restrained. Emma trusted Regina implicitly and had been more than keen to be tied up earlier. She now watched with hooded eyes as the brunette reached for the bottle.

The snap of the cap echoed through the room and Emma's body tensed in anticipation. Good anticipation. Regina shook the bottle several times before squeezing a small amount out onto the strap-on. She dropped the bottle onto the bed and slathered the lubricant over the phallus, ensuring every inch of it was slickly coated. She then wiped the remainder of the lube left on her hand directly onto Emma's ass, pulling her fingers out as she did so. The puckered skin was soon coated too, Regina's tender caress making Emma whimper again.

"Regina, please," she moaned as she watched the brunette reach for the lube again.

"I just want to make sure you're ready," Regina said, squeezing the last drops of liquid from the bottle. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Emma said. "Please just get inside me."

Regina smirked at her wife's neediness but ignored the request. Well, almost. She coated her fingers in the last of the lube and eased two back inside the blonde. They entered easily, both because Emma was already relaxed and because of the oil coating them. She thrust in and out several times, Emma moaning in delight as she was finally being stimulated. And then the fingers were gone.

But Emma didn't have time to complain before Regina had lined up the strap-on, the tip pressing insistently against the rosebud for a few seconds before Emma released her breath and Regina pushed inside. She stilled at once, watching Emma's face for any sign of pain. It wasn't painful, exactly. But it was intense. Emma could feel her body splitting open for Regina, could feel her muscles clenching around the intrusion. But she was ready for it; Regina had made sure of that and after a few seconds she nodded and the brunette pushed forwards slowly.

It didn't take long for Regina to be buried to the hilt, her hips flush against Emma's spread legs, the strap-on disappeared completed into the blonde's body. A tiny rocking motion of Emma's hips prompted Regina to begin thrusting. Slow, steady and smooth, helped by the generous lubrication, she set up a rhythm. Emma's hands itched to reach for her wife, to grip her hips, feel her flesh. But she couldn't. Instead she grasped the ropes holding her in place and began to match Regina's pace.

Emma never lasted long when she took Regina in her ass. She was too sensitive, too aroused, to utterly consumed by the feeling of being filled. She kept her eyes open, watching Regina's toned body tense and flex as she thrust forwards and pulled backwards, the phallus driving steadily in and out of her body. Regina's hands on her knees pushed them wider, opening her up and allowing Regina to reach even deeper. Emma cried out in delight as the speed and pressure picked up. Confident now that Emma was not in pain, Regina began to pump more forcefully, her hips hitting Emma's spread thighs with a slapping sound each time she thrust deeply inside. Emma shuddered and moaned, her body on fire in the most delectable way.

Closing her eyes was a mistake, Emma discovered, as seconds after she did so Regina's fingers landed on her clit, rubbing furiously and catapulting her headlong into a powerful orgasm. She screamed as she came, her back arching off the bed as her hips rocked forwards and drew Regina impossibly deeper, her muscles clenching so tightly the brunette was forced to stop pumping. She didn't stop rubbing however and Emma's over-stimulated clit triggered a second, smaller orgasm which left the brunette shivering and quaking.

"Enough," she gasped as her body shuddered.

Regina stopped at once, her fingers moving away from Emma's core and landing on her thigh. She eased the blonde's legs down around her as she slowly pulled the strap-on from the blonde's spent body. As soon as she slipped out, she climbed from the bed and moved to the ensuite where she removed the harness, detached the strap-on and dropped it into the sink to be cleaned later. She washed her own hands, picked up a flannel and filled a bowl with warm water before returning to the bedroom.

Emma was lying spread-eagled on the bed, eyes closed and chest still rising and falling quickly. Regina put the items on the side and set about releasing the blonde's arms. As soon as she was free, Emma reached blindly for her wife, pulling her down into a heated kiss.

"I love you," she gasped when they broke apart.

"I love you too," Regina said, kissing her softly once more. "Was that ok? Are you ok?"

"It was amazing," Emma said, eyes opening lazily as she smiled up at the familiar face. "I'm more than ok."

Regina grinned. "Good. God you're sexy when you take me in your ass."

"So are you," Emma smirked, her libido already igniting at the prospect.

"Thank you," Regina said. "But I'm afraid we don't have any more lube so that little endeavour will have to wait."

Emma pouted but nodded. It was important to have the right equipment to ensure neither of them got hurt during their adventurous sex life. Sh shuffled herself up the bed, replaced the pillow beneath her hips and allowed her legs to fall open again as Regina moved down the bed to clean up her wife. She loved the aftermath of their anal sex games, Emma had realised long ago. The caring, tender, delicate way Regina gently wiped away all traces of their activities, the reverence and respect they showed for one another's bodies. It was these moments, as much as the sex itself, which brought the women closer together, cemented their love and made their relationship truly special.

"I'll get some more lube tomorrow," Emma said when Regina returned from the bathroom five minutes later and climbed into bed, throwing the blanket over both of them.

"It's ok," Regina said. "There are plenty more things can do without lube until then."

Emma smirked at her insatiable wife, gasping when the brunette climbed on top of her and slid her wet sex deliberately over the tensed muscles of her thigh. Yes, Emma thought, the two of them would have no problem staying busy until she was able to replenish their supply. She reached up and pulled her wife in for a fiery kiss as Regina continued to rub herself against Emma's body.

* * *

A/N: I predict you will all be too embarrassed to review. Prove me wrong? Also, yes this is completely not in keeping with the episode I got the line from but who the fuck cares since the characters on the show are unrecognisable now from those we came to love in Season 1. Well, aside from Regina. She's just fucking awesome all the time.


	18. 06-18 - Where Bluebirds Fly

A/N: Let's imagine there's a pre-existing relationship between Emma and Regina because who doesn't when we're watching OUAT?

Also, in light of the announcement made by Jennifer Morrison regarding her discontinued contract with Once Upon A Time, I will pledge for you, here and now, that I will continue to write SwanQueen fan fiction. These two women inspired me to write in the first place, they inspired me to recognise a true, complex, messy and utterly unbreakable connection between two individuals, they showed me what it meant to be a parent, to be a friend, to be a partner (Lana's word, not mine). Emma Swan may be leaving the show but the Emma we loved had faded from our screens long ago. Do not believe for a second, however, that she will be eclipsed from the creative minds of those who turn to SwanQueen for inspiration. She will live on, Regina too, forever immortalised in the rhythmic tapping of our fingers and the loyal readers who enjoy our crafts. Thank you.

Now for SwanQueen sex! NSFW

* * *

"Regina, what's up?" Emma asked as she answered her cell.

"I'm horny and bored. Come over?" came the familiar, husky voice.

Emma glanced at her mother and tried to stop herself blushing. "Um, give me thirty minutes?"

"Hurry up, or I'll start without you."

The line went dead and Emma slid her phone back into her pocket. Snow was looking curiously at her.

"Somewhere to go?" she asked her daughter.

"I just need to check on something quickly with Regina," Emma said. "Black Fairy business."

Snow sighed and shut the vast folder filled with wedding ideas. She thought the romance between her daughter and Regina was over now Hook had been safely returned from Neverland but from the look on Emma's face, it seemed she was wrong.

"Emma, you're supposed to be marrying Hook," she reminded her gently. "Don't you think it's time you ended whatever was going on with Regina?"

Emma gawped. "How did you -?"

"It was obvious, darling," Snow said. "The way you two looked at one another. I mean, it's the same way I look at David and he looks at me. But Emma, you said yes to Hook. You're engaged to him. Whatever you and Regina have or had, it must stop."

"I know," Emma sighed. "I know. I just … it's too hard, Mum. I can't tell her it's over. I can't break her heart again. She's been through so much and she deserves some happiness. We make each other happy, regardless of whether or not we're supposed to be together."

"So you're going to keep seeing her even after you and Hook get married?" Snow frowned.

Emma grimaced. "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't want to think about it. I can't think about it. Can we just forget this conversation ever happened?"

"Burying your head in the sand?" Snow asked. "That sounds a lot like the Emma who came to Storybrooke six years ago, not the accomplished saviour you've grown to be. It's not fair, Emma. To you, to Regina, to Hook. You need to decide who you want and do it soon. You're stringing both of them along and it's only going to end badly."

Emma winced. She knew her mother was right but she also didn't know what she wanted. No, that was a lie. She knew exactly what she wanted but she didn't understand how it was possible. Hook was her true love, after all. If fate told her to be with him, how could she possibly be with the woman who truly held her heart?

"I'll see you later," Emma muttered before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"Took you long enough."

As the smoke cleared, Regina's form was revealed to Emma. The brunette was reclining in her bed, leaning against a mountain of pillows. Her body was completely nude and her fingers pumped lazily between her legs. Emma swallowed thickly. She knew she needed to talk to Regina. She knew her mother was right. She knew she owed it to Regina, Hook and even herself to have a discussion about what the hell the two women were doing. But …

Regina let out a breathless laugh as Emma landed on top of her, mouths fused passionately together. She wrapped her arms around the blonde, running her hands over the soft black top of her pyjamas, forcing away the fact that Emma slept in them beside someone other than her. Her tongue sought entrance, the taste of the younger woman eclipsing all other thoughts from her head just as she felt Emma magic away her own clothes.

She was tense, Regina could tell. Distracted. Confused. As Emma kissed her way furiously down Regina's body, the blonde was practically vibrating with … something. Regina should have stopped her, should have asked her what was wrong. But when Emma's hot mouth covered her taut nipple, her willpower evaporated.

Emma laved at the pebbled skin, her hand grasping at the neglected breast before she switched sides, worrying the nipple between her teeth in a way that made Regina moan and cant her hips upwards. Emma felt the wet core of the brunette press against her toned abdomen and could wait no longer.

She slithered down the tanned woman, nestling between her thighs and immediately covered her clit with her mouth. Regina's hands threaded through her unbrushed hair, pulling her closer as Emma's tongue went to work. Regina's earlier ministrations had already brought the brunette close to the edge and Emma knew it wasn't going to take long. She licked and swiped, her tongue dancing around the sensitive nerve bundle in the way that drove Regina mad with wanton delight. Emma's fingers reached between her legs, joining the action as two were quickly thrust inside the wet, aching channel. Regina whimpered as she was filled, her body eager to accommodate the welcome invasion.

Strong, confident licks alternated with lighter flutters drove Regina sky high and, as a third finger entered her core, she shattered against Emma's lips. The blonde worked her through her pleasure, prolonging the ecstasy until Regina's fingers loosened their hold on Emma's hair and the blonde, somewhat reluctantly pulled back. She looked up the spent body until her eyes met with Regina's.

"What's wrong?" the brunette asked, her voice hoarse.

"Nothing," Emma replied, trying to school her features into a neutral smile.

"Don't lie to me, Emma," Regina sighed, sitting up and pulling the blonde towards her. She had seen a flicker of sadness on the blonde's face when usually she'd have seen a cocky, confident smirk. Something was wrong, she knew it.

"My mother knows about us," Emma admitted as she settled into the familiar, comforting, safe crux of Regina's arms.

"Yeah, she told me she knew a few weeks ago," Regina admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" Emma asked.

"Because it was none of her business and I told her as much," Regina shrugged. "And the fact that your mother knows is not the reason you were looking at me with those big sad eyes of yours a few minutes ago."

"I don't have big sad eyes," Emma pouted.

"Yeah, you do," Regina said. "And I want to know why."

In fact, Regina already knew what had caused Emma's emotional turmoil. But she needed the blonde to be the one to say it. The two of them had never had a conversation about the elephant in the room that was their relationship.

"Hook's back," she murmured at last.

"Yeah, I was there when he fell through the portal, remember?" Regina said, a note of bitterness in her tone.

"I'm supposed to marry him."

"I know that too."

There was another long pause. Regina was waiting somewhat patiently, knowing that whatever the blonde needed to say wasn't going to be said until Emma was ready. And Emma was trying to psych herself up to say the words.

"I don't want Hook," she whispered at last.

"I know."

"I want you."

"I want you too."

Emma turned to look into Regina's face. "You do?"

"I do," Regina nodded, placing a chaste kiss to Emma's lips. "This has been about more than just great sex for a long time, Emma. Just because neither of us voiced the fact that we went from fuck buddies to something more doesn't mean we don't both know what's developed between us."

"You … you feel it too?"

"You know I do, honey," Regina said. "You know how I feel about you. You might not what to have acknowledged it. The fact that we've become so close might have scared you and been some kind of inconvenient truth in light of your relationship with Hook but that doesn't mean it's not there. It's special, what we share, Emma. And you know it."

"I do know it," Emma nodded.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Regina prompted.

There was another long silence and then; "What if I fuck it up?" Emma said eventually. "I'm shit with relationships, Regina. Every one I've ever been in has ended badly. What we have now is great and it's simple and we know where we stand. Can't that be enough? Why do we have to put pressure on ourselves? Why do we have to make this into something more, something official? As soon as that happens, I know I'm going to fuck up somehow and break your heart."

"It breaks my heart to see you with Hook and be your secret bit on the side."

Emma swallowed thickly. She hadn't thought about how Regina felt when she saw Emma and the pirate together. Sure, she knew her own feelings for Regina were developing and she suspected the brunette had come to care for her deeply. But surely the former Queen of the Enchanted Forest would have said something if she had wanted Emma all to herself?

"I wanted to tell you for a long time, Emma," Regina said. "Soon after we started sleeping together, in fact. I knew what we shared went far beyond our physical compatibility. But then you and Hook became true loves and I didn't want to get in the way of that. I contented myself with what we had, with what we could share in those secret moments. But now he's back and you're getting married … I can't do it, Emma. I can't watch you marry a man you don't love."

"I do love him though."

Tears sprung unbidden into Regina's eyes and she blinked furiously, trying to stop them falling. Emma's heart shattered as she watched the pain flash across the brunette's face.

"But I love you too."

Brown eyes widened at the whispered words, searching Emma's face to decide whether they were true or not. Emma could never lie to Regina.

"I do love you, Regina," Emma repeated. "Hook might be who the universe thinks I should be with but you and I both know otherwise. It's you, Gina. It's always been you."

Regina threw her arms around Emma and kissed her hard, half laughing half crying into the salty fusion between their lips.

"I love you too," she mumbled against Emma's mouth. "I love you, Emma."

"Then we're doing this?" she asked, pulling back slightly. "We're really going to do this?"

"I'm in," Regina said. "And I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit when it comes to relationships. Plus, who says I'm going to let you fuck things up between us? I'll do everything in my power to make sure this works, Emma. If you're in this, then we will make it work. Together."

They kissed again, tongues battling once more as their bodies wrapped around one another, Emma rolling onto her back and pulling Regina on top of her.

"I have to tell Hook," Emma panted when the kiss ended. "I have to tell him the wedding is off."

"You do," Regina nodded. "But first …" She slid her way down Emma's bare body until she lay between the blonde's spread legs. "I believe I owe you an orgasm, Miss Swan."

* * *

A/N: I'm repeating my words from above in case you ignored them - please read, they're important to me.

In light of the announcement made by Jennifer Morrison regarding her discontinued contract with Once Upon A Time, I will pledge for you, here and now, that I will continue to write SwanQueen fan fiction. These two women inspired me to write in the first place, they inspired me to recognise a true, complex, messy and utterly unbreakable connection between two individuals, they showed me what it meant to be a parent, to be a friend, to be a partner (Lana's word, not mine). Emma Swan may be leaving the show but the Emma we loved had faded from our screens long ago. Do not believe for a second, however, that she will be eclipsed from the creative minds of those who turn to SwanQueen for inspiration. She will live on, Regina too, forever immortalised in the rhythmic tapping of our fingers and the loyal readers who enjoy our crafts. Thank you.


	19. 06-19 - The Black Fairy

A/N: Sorry about the mega delay in these chapters. I'm planning to get the final few episodes completed within the next couple of weeks, ahead of the season premier which, sadly, will probably be the last ever Missed SwanQueen Moment. Sob! Anyway, for now, let's continue to highlight all of the chances the producers neglected to make SwanQueen canon. This episode had barely any contact between our ladies so this is a scene which stems from an interaction between Emma and Hook.

* * *

The door shut with a click behind him and the smile faded from her lips. She let out a low sigh and tugged her hairband down, allowing her blonde locks to fall around her shoulders.

"Henry?" Emma called. "Have you eaten dinner?"

"Grandma invited me over for pizza. Is that ok?" Came the response from the living room.

"Sure. If it gets too late, stay at their place please, so you don't wake me when you thunder up the stairs."

"Need your beauty sleep before the big day, huh?"

Emma forced a laugh. In fact, she doubted she would be sleeping much at all that night. Henry left for his grandparents a few minutes later and as soon as his footsteps had thudded down the steps of the porch, Emma's phone was in her hands.

"Hey, they've gone," she said as soon as the call was answered. "Can you -?"

Before she had even finished her request, a plume of purple smoke appeared in her hallway. She looked pointedly between her cell and the woman standing before her, then hung up and pocketing the device.

"Impatient?" she asked as the woman strode towards her.

"Always when it comes to seeing you," Regina said, her arms snaking around Emma's waist before their lips met.

The kiss was short, Emma only too aware that their son was barely fifty feet from the house and the curtains were still wide open, allowing anyone passing by a perfect view into the brightly lit house.

"Come on," Emma said, tugging Regina into the small living room at the rear of the house whose windows faced only the garden.

They settled onto the large couch, Emma's arm around Regina's shoulder. They sat there for a few moments in silence and then:

"You're really going through with this wedding?" Regina said at last.

"What choice do I have?" Emma sighed.

"You could choose not to marry someone you don't love," Regina pointed out for the umpteenth time.

"I can't," Emma said. "You know I have to marry him."

"Why? Because it's what everyone expects you to do?"

Emma nodded. "My mom and dad would be devastated. They think of Hook as part of the family. I'm their only daughter. I can't marry …"

The blonde trailed off, the words unable to be voice.

"Me," Regina said quietly. "You can't marry me."

Emma swallowed thickly. "Yeah," she said. "I can't marry you."

"Just because the concept of homosexuality wasn't accepted in the Enchanted Forest doesn't mean your parents will disown you, Emma," Regina said gently. "Snow and David believe in true love, right? Surely they wouldn't want you to marry someone you didn't love just to save face. A gay princess may have been run out of town back there but in this world, I think people will be far more accepting."

"You don't know that," Emma said, her eyes shining with tears. "I can't lose my parents, Regina. I can't have them hate me."

"You really think they'd push you away if they found out about us?" Regina asked. Despite everything which had happened in the past, she now considered both Snow and David friends. She hated to think that their prejudices from the Enchanted Forest would extend to their daughter.

Emma shrugged. "I don't know but I'm not willing to take that chance. I spent 27 years of my life without my parents. I don't ever want to feel like that again. If marrying Hook gives me a family I can rely on, what choice do I have?"

"You can choose what will actually make you happy, Emma," the brunette said, turning on the couch and taking Emma's hands in her own. "Me, I make you happy. I won't ever leave you. Me, you and Henry can be a family."

"We'd be outcasts," Emma said. "You know my parents would never accept us."

"We don't know that," Regina said. "And who cares? If they can't accept who you really are, who you want to be with, do you even want them in your life?"

Emma's head whipped around to glare at Regina. "They're my parents, of course I want them in my life."

Regina bit her lip. "That's not what I meant," she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. But you know part of being a good parent is accepting your child for who they are. Snow and David love you so much Emma, so why wouldn't they want you to be happy? Even if it was with a woman."

"It was you who told me about their outlawing of gay relationships in the Enchanted Forest," Emma reminded the brunette.

"And I wish I had never said anything," Regina admitted. "Maybe if you hadn't known you would have been able to end things with Hook and tell your parents how we feel about each other. But now I'm sat here the night before you get married to a man who makes your skin crawl because you're too scared to tell your parents the truth.

Emma bristled and stood from the couch. "I'm not scared."

"Yes you are," Regina said. "You're scared your parents will reject you and that you'll lose your family."

"Isn't that a valid fear?" Emma asked, stalking over to the liqueur cabinet and picking up the one bottle which wasn't rum. The whiskey splashed into the tumbler before she swigged it back in one gulp. "I spent so long wondering who my family was, Regina, I can't lose them."

"You don't know that you will," Regina said, watching carefully as Emma knocked back her second whiskey.

"I might," came a whisper. "I can't take that chance."

"So for the rest of our lives you're going to play happy families with Hook and you and I continue to sneak around?"

Emma said nothing, her back resolutely to the woman whose voice was laced with pain. Emma knew Regina deserved better. She knew she herself deserved better. She wanted to be with Regina, of that Emma was also certain. But if it cost her the parents she had yearned for her whole life, was it worth it?

"I can't do this, any more, Emma."

The blonde turned around at those words, forehead creased. "Can't do what?"

"This. Us," Regina said gesturing between them. "I've been convincing myself for almost two years that eventually you'd be ready, that you'd end things with Hook and you'd tell your parents about me. But that's never going to happen, is it?"

Emma's heart beat faster. Was Regina breaking up with her.

"I deserve more than to be your secret bit on the side," Regina said, standing up and smoothing down her slacks. "I can't stand by and watch as you marry someone you don't love. I can't steal half and hour here and a quick fuck there with you for the rest of our lives. I love you, Emma. I need more than that. I need everything with you. Don't start your life with Hook tomorrow, start it with me," she pleaded. "Tell your parents. Tell them everything. Tell them how you feel, how we feel, and ask them to accept you for who you are. After everything we've all been together, as a family, how can they not see that the two of us are far better suited and far more in love than you and Hook ever were. Please, Emma. Please tell them. If you go through with tomorrow it will break my heart."

"You don't think I don't want everything with you, Regina?" Emma asked, striding over and cupping the brunette's tearstained cheeks. "I want all that. I do. I just … I can't do it. I can't risk my parents."

"Then there's nothing more to say," Regina said. "I'm sorry, Emma, but it hurts too much to be with you but not truly have you. I won't be coming to the wedding either. I guess I'll see you around."

Before Emma could say a single word, Regina disappeared and Emma's hands were left cupping purple air. She was silent for a moment before letting out a pitiful wail. She collapsed to her knees, her body trembling with sobs.

No, not Regina. She couldn't lose Regina. The brunette was the one person in her life who truly understood her. The one person who knew everything about her. Who knew everything about Emma Swan and yet still loved her. Fiercely, passionately, completely. Regina was the only person who accepted Emma's sexuality, accepted that she was gay. Her parents would never understand, would they? Not after everything Regina had told her about the taboo of same sex relationships in the Enchanted Forest.

Except, they weren't in the Enchanted Forest any more. They were in Storybrooke, Maine, where same sex marriage was legal. Where men dated men and women dated women and people labelled themselves in countless different ways or even refused to label themselves at all. Why should they? Storybrooke wasn't in the Enchanted Forest. Being gay wasn't a sin here. Being gay didn't make you evil or defective or any of the other words Regina had used to describe the attitudes of people back in the other realm.

Her parents had lived in Storybrooke for many years now. True, they had been under a curse for most of that time and David was in a coma but they still experienced this world. They abided by the laws, they embraced technology and indoor plumbing and lasagne and bear claws. Perhaps they could also learn to accept their daughter.

But what if they didn't? What if they turned their backs on Emma? What if they wanted nothing more to do with their daughter? What if they refused to speak to her again?

A face swam before Emma's eyes as she moved to lean heavily against the couch. Regina. The hurt on the brunette's features before she had disappeared broke Emma's heart. She had caused that pain. She had made Regina feel unloved, unwanted. It wasn't true. Emma did love Regina. She did want her. She wanted everything with Regina.

Suddenly, Emma scrambled to her feet. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath before white smoke surrounded her.

The hallway of Regina's mansion was dark. No lights came from the rooms downstairs. Tentatively, Emma began to make her way up the wide staircase. At the top, she saw the thin orange glow spilling from beneath Regina's bedroom door. She walked down the hallway and knocked lightly on the wood.

"Regina?" she called softly.

There was a rustling inside and a few seconds later, the door creaked open. "Emma?" came a choked voice as brown eyes took in the figure stood in the gloomy hallway.

"May I come in?"

Regina hesitated before widening the door and allowing the blonde to enter her bedroom. Emma stepped into the familiar space and took in the woman before her. Regina had changed into her pyjamas and her eyes were red and puffy.

"I'm sorry," Emma said, taking a step towards the brunette. But Regina moved away, shaking her head.

"Please, Emma, it's too hard. I can't keep doing this."

"Me neither," Emma said, her heart constricting when the older woman stepped away from her. "That's what I came here to say."

"I think I already ended things between us, Emma," Regina said, wrapping her arms tightly around her own ribs. "What more is there to say?"

"I don't want things to end," Emma said.

"And I don't want things to continue as they were."

"Then let's change them."

Brown, tear-filled eyes rose slowly to meet Emma's. Regina studied the face before her, taking in the evidence of Emma's recent crying as well. What was the blonde saying? What did she mean?

"I don't understand," Regina said at last.

"I choose you, Regina," Emma said. "You were right. You and Henry are my real family. I know you'll never leave me. And much as I want my parents to be accepting, what sort of parents would they be if they turned their back on me when I tell them about us?"

Sculpted eyebrows rose. "When you tell them?"

"When," Emma repeated. "I'm not marrying Hook, Regina. I'm done pretending. I'm done being something I'm not just because I'm scared of being abandoned. The people who truly love me, would never leave me."

Regina let out a long, low breath. "You're serious?" she asked. "You're not messing with me, are you? I mean, you're going to see this through, right? I don't think my heart can take any more, Emma."

"I promise I mean every word," Emma said, moving towards the brunette once more and being immensely relieved when Regina didn't move away. "I love you, Regina. I want to be with you. I need to get over what happened when I was a baby. I grew up an orphan, sure. But now I have my own family with you and Henry and you two are the most important people in the world to me. I'm not going to lose you just because my parents can't accept who I am."

Regina let out a sob and collapsed against the blonde, the strong arms wrapping tightly around her trembling frame and supporting the two of the towards the bed. They fell onto the rumbled sheets together, both crying as the realisation of what the future held washed over them.

They were going to be together. Officially. Publically. Everyone was finally going to see how happy they made one another. So what if people hadn't accepted gay women in the Enchanted Forest; they lived in Storybrooke now and Emma and Regina were doing nothing wrong.

"Do you want to come with me?" Emma asked. "To tell my parents?"

"Don't you want to do it alone?"

"I don't want to do anything without you ever again," Emma said, kissing Regina softly. "You and me, Regina. We're a team."

"I'm fairly sure you should tell Hook by yourself," Regina said and Emma grinned at the pathetic joke.

"Ok, true. And I should probably tell him first. Give me half an hour and meet me at my parents?"

"Tonight?"

Emma nodded. "My wedding is supposed to be in less than 24 hours. I'd say time is of the essence."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"I'm not ready to lose you," Emma said. "You're more important to me than my parents, Regina. I know that now. Of course I'd like to have all of you in my life but if I can't, I choose you. Always."

"I love you, Emma Swan," Regina said, another firm kiss exchanged between the two of them.

"I love you too, Regina Mills," Emma replied. "And I can't wait to show the world just how much."

* * *

A/N: aw cute. And sorry about making the Enchanted Forest homophobic but I've always read fics where sexuality is very fluid there – figured I'd take it in a different direction. And for those of you who read my AU fics, watch this space …


	20. 06-20 - The Song In Your Heart

A/N: I know! I suck! But it's not like I'm going to have to keep up with Season 7's SwanQueen moments (sob). Anyway, here's my little insert for the musical episode. Side note: it's hard to make our ladies fuck when one of them is getting married that afternoon. So I went with friendship SwanQueen.

* * *

"Zelena and I will figure out a way to disable this thing," Regina said, waving her hand towards the swirling black mass of fairy dust. "I ruined your parents wedding," she continued, the familiar feeling of guilt washing over her. "The least I can do is make sure you get to enjoy yours."

Emma smiled reassuringly at her best friend. "Let me help you guys."

"No," Regina insisted. "You have a wedding to prepare for. You need to do your makeup and hair and -"

"And there is a ball of evil dust threatening the town," Emma interrupted. "I don't think Hook is going to care if I look a little less than perfect because I'm helping you save Storybrooke. Come on, let me help. She's after my heart, remember? We can destroy her together and I'll chuck on the dress and make it to the wedding in time, no problem."

Regina shook her head. "You really would have made a terrible princess, you know that?" she chuckled.

"Good job you ruined my parents' wedding then, isn't it?" Emma joked back.

The brunette glanced sideways as Snow and was relieved to see the pixie haired woman smiling too. It seemed that the terrible deeds of the past really had been forgiven, even though Regina doubted she would ever have forgiven anyone who dared interrupted her own wedding day, whomever the lucky groom (or bride) turned out to be.

"No, Emma. Zelena and I have got this. Go and find Henry and make sure he's ready for his best man duties. He's so excited, you know. It was very kind of Hook to ask him."

Emma's eyebrows rose. "I think that's the first time you've ever said something nice about Hook."

"Well, by six this evening, he'll be family," Regina said, suppressing the shudder which ran through her body. "I suppose I'll have to learn to like him if he's going to be a permanent feature in the life of my son and my best friend."

Emma grinned. "You're finally admitting it then, are you? That we're besties?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "I don't know why," she retorted. "You're clearly a child."

"Shall I make you a friendship bracelet," Emma asked. "We could have a sleepover next week if you want."

"Aren't you and Hook going to be on your honeymoon next week?" Regina asked, again, trying not to think about what the post-marriage trip would mean for her blonde friend and the one-hand wonder.

"You know, shockingly, what with everything that's been going on, we haven't had the chance to book anything. Also, did you know you created a Storybrooke without a travel agent in it?"

"Ah yes but when I cursed your parents," Regina said with a sideways wink at Snow – since when had they been able to joke about the worst day of Snow's life? "I also cursed the town so that no one could enter or leave. It's not like anyone would have need to book tickets to walk into the forest, is it? Storybrooke was perfectly equipped for what was required of it."

"A prison disguised as a town," Emma said. "True, it was well made for that purpose."

Regina laughed. "Ok, let's get back to the task in hand before we end up whatever hellhole the Black Fairy will have created for us. I doubt it is going to have any of the modern amenities I furnished Storybrooke with. So, Emma, are you going to go and be the princess I know Snow would like you to be for just one day and let Zelena and I take care of this?"

"How will I be of any help?" Zelena piped up. "Unless I can drive a car through that dust and destroy it that way, I'm powerless, remember?"

"You still have the knowledge of magic, though," Regina said. "You can help me look through my books."

"So can I," Emma added.

"No, honey," Snow said. "Regina is right. This is your big day and we want you to enjoy it. You know Regina and Zelena are more than capable of dealing with this without you. Why don't we go back to your house and start getting ready? I have lots of different hairstyles I found online which you can choose from."

Emma wrinkled her nose. "Please take me with you," she said, turning to Regina with wide eyes.

The brunette laughed and moved forwards, placing her hands on Emma's shoulders.

"I know growing up is scary and I know the thought of wearing a dress positively terrifies you but think how happy it will make Hook."

"He prefers me casual," Emma shrugged. "Or less than casual," she added with a leering wink.

Trying to force the image for a naked Emma from her mind, Regina continued, hands still in place. "Your mother is right. Zelena and I can do this without you, so you can enjoy your happy ending in peace. Please, go and get your hair and makeup done and I'll see you later. You're going to look beautiful, I know it." Because you're always beautiful, Regina added to herself as she dropped her hands from Emma's shoulders.

"You know, best friends help each other out of situations they don't want to be in," Emma said. "Could you not see the silent cry for help in my eyes? I think I may actually be allergic to makeup."

"Hook clearly isn't," Zelena said.

Regina stifled her laugh but only just. Emma narrowed her eyes slightly at the red head before huffing and nodding her acceptance of the whole situation.

"Ok, fine, I'll go and pretend to be a princess for the day. But the moment you need my help, you call me, ok? She wants my heart and I am not going to let either of you suffer at her hands when it's me she really wants. Text or call me and I'll be right there, even if Mum hasn't finished my hair yet."

"If we don't go now, I'll never get your hair to do what I want," Snow added.

"Um, if we don't stop standing around gossiping like old ladies, this giant ball of evil fairy dust is going to curse us all until the end of time," Zelena pointed out, gesturing to the sky. "Whatever the plan is, shall we just get a move on with it?"

"Fair point," Regina nodded. "Zee, you come with me. Snow, take Emma back to hers and make her into the most beautiful bride this town has ever seen."

"Only because you haven't got married yet," Emma said with a soft smile.

Regina's heart skipped a beat, her mouth slightly open. Emma said nothing. She just looked calmly back at her friend.

"Right," Snow said slowly after a long silence. "So, shall we go?"

"Yes," Regina said quickly, reaching for Zelena and disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

Emma stared at the place where the woman had stood, seconds before and then held her hand out towards her mother and transported the two of them back to her own house where her wedding dress was waiting for her to get ready.

* * *

A/N: two more to go! Ever! I have to watch the finale to remind myself of what happened now …


	21. 06-21 - The Final Battle

A/N: This is it. The last Missed SwanQueen Moment ever … well, depending on how Season 7, Ep 2 pans out, but I suspect this will be the end. Thank you so much for coming on this fun journey with me. Please read the note at the end of this. It's long but important. Love to you all. This chapter is NSFW.

* * *

"I'm not telling you to give up, you can't," Regina said. "Emma, you of all people should know there's always a third way." Leading Emma a little way from the group, Regina finally turned to the blonde, arms crossed against the cold of the night. "Remember when you first came to Storybrooke? We hated each other."

"Regina -" Emma tried to interrupt.

"No, it's true," Regina insisted. "I was Henry's mother but you said you were. And we fought." She chuckled. "And boy did we ever fight. But you found a third way. We were both his mother. Earlier today I saw my evil half be selfless. She saved us all. I never saw that coming, just like however you're going to get out of this, we haven't seen yet. But you will."

"Sounds like you're talking about hope," Emma sighed, hands forced deep into her pockets.

"Something you taught me all those years ago when you didn't give up on me."

"What should I do?"

"You'll know when the time comes," Regina assured her.

And she did. When she was battling Gideon, Emma looked past her attacker and caught sight of everyone standing behind, fear etched on each of their faces. She saw Hook, his eyes wide. She saw her parents, her father's arms wrapped protectively around her mother as they watched their first born fight desperately not for her life but for the lives of everyone in Storybrooke. She saw Henry; the internal torment visible as he forced himself not to run forwards and intervene. And she saw Regina.

The brunette was right, as always. They had hated each other. The had fought like anything and in doing so they had caused their son terrible pain. He had poisoned himself in the end, to put a stop to their battles. Even after that, it wasn't until Neverland that the two women had finally put aside their differences, accepted that they both loved Henry, that they could both be his mother, and worked together to get their son back. That had been the moment Emma had realised how thin the line really was between hate and love.

Her eyes locked with Regina's and she knew, instantly, what she had to do. Casting the sword aside, she saw the brunette's gaze widen in surprise as the metal clattered to the ground. Regina was right, again. She really hadn't seen how Emma was going to get out of it.

Stretching her arms wide, she wrenched her eyes from the brunette beauty's pained expression and looked back at Gideon. She could see the despair in his face too. She knew he didn't want to hurt her. She knew that were it not for the Black Fairy, he wouldn't be stood before her, poised to strike. And yet he was. Just before the blade was thrust into her body, Emma looked back towards Regina, taking in the sight of her son and his other mother, wanting theirs to be the last two faces she saw before her life was snuffed out, forever.

The moment Emma's body dropped to the floor and Gideon disappeared into thin air, the group charged forward, screaming the saviour's name. Gathering around her, they all dropped to their knees. Hook pushed past everyone, leaned down at once and pressed his lips against Emma's. Nothing happened. The blonde remained motionless on the ground.

"No," he whispered, voice hoarse. "It should have worked. True love's kiss can bring back the dead, right?" he said, turning to Snow and Charming.

"Ours does," Snow confessed.

"But you share a heart," Hook said. "Does that make it more powerful? Can I put my heart into Emma and then wake her?"

"No," Regina said, quietly but firmly. "Your heart is not the problem. Or rather, the fact that you don't share a heart isn't the problem."

"Then what is?" Hook asked, eyes shining with tears.

"True love can be unrequited," Regina said. "Your love for Emma may be true. She managed to save you from the Underworld because of it but that was because you wanted it badly enough. This, it seems, requires too great a power for whatever it is you share."

"Henry then," Hook said, turning to his new son-in-law. "Henry, your mom loves you and you love her. Can you wake her?"

Henry, whose own eyes were streaming, bent down at once to kiss his mother's forehead. He was shocked to feel how icy cold her skin was beneath his lips. It was like she had been dead for days, not mere minutes. But nothing happened. Her body remained lifeless on the damp street.

"That doesn't mean she didn't love you, Henry," Regina said at once. "You know your mom loved you more than anyone else in the world."

"Then why didn't it work?" Henry asked, turning to his mother.

"I don't know," Regina confessed. "True love isn't exactly my area of expertise, after all."

"It could be."

Hook, Henry and Regina turned to look at Snow, the woman's tear-filled eyes locked knowingly on Regina.

"No," Regina whispered. "It isn't."

"You don't know until you try," Charming pointed out, wiping his own eyes. "For Emma, Regina. Try for Emma."

Regina glanced between the two of them. How had they known? How long had they known? Her gaze slid over to Hook who looked thoroughly confused. Clearly he didn't know. Henry, however, gently reached out and placed his hand on Regina's shoulder.

"They're right, Ma," Henry said. "You don't know until you try."

Looking at her son, who had just watched his other mother sacrifice herself to save the town, she knew what she had to do. Henry shuffled backwards on his knees to make room for his mother who inched forward. She craned her neck, leaned down over the blonde's body. She looked peaceful, Regina thought.

Placing her hands on either side of Emma's head, she allowed her eyes to flutter close as she lowered her face towards the blonde. Their lips brushed together in the softest of kisses, the shock of Emma's cold skin making her pull back. But she knew what she needed to do. She had felt the tingle of magic as soon as there had been contact. She moved closer, pressed her lips more firmly against Emma's just as a pulse of brilliant, white magic shot from between the two women.

Emma's eyes flew open, her lungs sucking in great gulps of air as Regina pulled away, sitting back on her heels with an almost sheepish expression on her face.

"Regina," Emma breathed out, staring up at the woman above her.

"Emma?" Hook said, the hurt voice breaking the tender gaze the women were sharing.

"Killian," Emma said, pushing her aching body up so she was leaning on her hands. "I'm so sorry."

"We got married yesterday," he said, eyes teary again but for a whole different reason. "Why did you ever go through with it?"

"I do love you," Emma protested. "I do. It's just -"

"Regina is your true love," Hook finished, dully. "You're my true love but I'm not yours."

"I'm sorry," Emma said, reaching for the heartbroken man who was already getting to his feet. "Killian, I am sorry."

"No, Emma. Don't," Hook said, moving out of Emma's reach. "Please, just, give me some time, ok?"

The man looked once more at his wife, sat on the floor with Regina knelt close to her side before turning and walking off down the dark street of Storybrooke in the direction of the dock. Emma watched him go for a moment before turning to the woman who had brought her back from the dead.

"So," Emma said, a familiar cocky smile on her face, "finally ready to admit that we're true loves?"

"Seriously?" Regina sighs. "You almost die and you're still able to make a joke."

"I think I did actually die," Emma pointed out. "And isn't it my sense of humour that you love about me?"

"Among other things," Regina said, her eyes softening.

"Um, moms?" Henry said, reminding both women that he was still there.

"Hey kid," Emma said, leaning forward to hug her son. "Sorry for dying on you then. Didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah, more interested in the other thing that just happened actually. Um, you guys are true loves?"

"Kinda," Emma said with a shrug.

"I knew it!" Henry exclaimed, punching the air as he jumped to his feet. "I totally knew it! The Evil Queen and the Saviour. It's perfect. It makes complete sense."

He launched himself towards the stunned women, wrapping an arm around each of them and causing the little family to tumble backwards onto the ground. Well, onto Emma. Regina didn't mind finding herself pressed once more against the blonde. It had been far too long since she had felt the younger woman's toned body beneath her own. Years, in fact.

"So, how long have you two known?" Regina asked when she had, reluctantly, pushed herself off Emma and stood up to face the Charmings. Henry pulled Emma to her feet as she did so.

"A while," Snow said, a wide grin on her face.

"Yeah, it was pretty obvious, to be honest," David added.

"When did you two work it out?" Henry asked his mothers.

"Neverland," Regina said. "When we moved the moon together with our magic."

"Yeah but she didn't tell me what that meant until we were back here," Emma said, moving to stand beside Regina and slinging an arm around her waist, pressing a soft kiss to the brunette's cheek.

"Well, I was processing," Regina defended. "And at least I told you in the end."

"If you can magically summoning me to your house where you're dressed in the sexiest lingerie I've ever seen telling me, then yeah, you did."

"Ma!" Henry exclaimed. "Did you really do that?"

"I hate you," Regina said to Emma.

The blonde just laughed, kissing Regina on the corner of the mouth and turned back to the group.

"So, where shall we go to celebrate this latest victory of good over evil?" she asked. "Granny's?"

* * *

Hours later, after the party had finally wound down, Regina and Emma said goodbye to Snow and David before turning and making their way towards the Mayoral mansion. Henry was ahead of them, head buried in his phone; no doubt texting his girlfriend. The trio entered the house within saying anything. Nothing more needed to be said. This was it now. This was their family. Henry wished his mothers goodnight and made his way to his bedroom.

"Nightcap?" Regina asked as she and Emma shed their coats.

"Sure," the blonde said, "but first."

She moved towards Regina, a predatory look in her eyes. Regina's tongue darted out to wet her lips just as Emma's hands landed on her hips and gently steered the brunette backwards until she bumped softly into the wall. Emma kept moving, pressing their bodies together until, at last, their lips met once more.

This kiss had none of the gentleness of Regina's life-saving one. It was full of hunger and lust and unadulterated desire for one another. Regina moaned as she felt Emma's tongue swipe against her lips, granting access at once as her fingers tangled themselves in Emma's windswept locks. Their hips rocked against one another, fires igniting low in their bellies.

"Let's skip the nightcap," Regina said breathlessly when they broke apart minutes later, her lips still tingling with the sensation of having Emma's mouth on her own. "I can't wait any longer."

Emma stepped back and allowed Regina to lead the way up the stairs. Since that first night, three years ago, it was always Regina who instigated whatever happened between them. Even when Emma had started seeing Hook, there were occasions when the desire had overcome her and the brunette had been unable to stay away. Regina had always known she and Emma were destined to end up together but that didn't make it any easier to commit.

As the two of them stepped into her bedroom, Regina remembered why she had finally plucked up the courage that first night to tell Emma what she believed was between them. She had seen Emma and Hook together, earlier that day. Seen the way the blonde had laughed at something the pirate had said and her gut clenched. She should have been the one to make Emma laugh. She should have been the one to be strolling down the street, hand in hand with the blonde. And she knew full well that she could have all that, if only she confessed to Emma how she felt.

The door closed as Regina's body was pushed against it once more, Emma's mouth hungrily against her own. That night, years ago, when Regina had summoned Emma, she had known the blonde desired her. Emma's attraction to Regina wasn't a secret to anyone. But the younger woman hadn't made a move, hadn't had the courage to tell Regina how she felt. She was waiting for Regina to accept it. Because Emma had felt Regina's eyes lingering on her, had seen the glazed over expression when she had bent down in front of the Mayor, her jeans stretched tight against her ass. Emma knew, she just waited.

They tumbled onto the bed, naked, within minutes. Just like they had done years before. Because the moment Emma had arrived, confused, in the centre of Regina's bedroom, it had taken her mere seconds to realise what was happening. Regina hadn't even needed to say anything, she had just waited for Emma to come to her, their lips finding one another's without words. They had never needed words. It had taken months for Regina to even tell the blonde what she had suspected was between us. And that was also the last night they had spent together, the last time Emma had been unfaithful to Hook.

Regina kissed her way down Emma's quivering body, lips and tongue tasting the familiar skin as she moved to where she knew Emma needed her. The moment she tasted the blonde again, she wondered why she had ever given this up. She knew Emma would have left Hook in a heartbeat back then. They could have had it all; they could have been together for years. Happy. A family. But Regina had got scared. When she had finally voiced her suspicions that the two of them were true loves, she was suddenly reminded of what had happened to everyone else who had ever become involved with her. She couldn't risk that. She couldn't risk Emma.

Her tongue dipped inside the blonde, Emma's back arching off the bed as Regina feasted on her core. She had been scared before, Regina would admit that. Scared of losing Emma, scared of having her heart broken. And so she had let her go, pushed her away, encouraged Emma to go back to Hook, even though it made her heart break a little bit more every time she saw them together. Robin distracted her for a while and then his death had cemented her belief that she was bad news. It had strengthened her resolve never to put Emma in danger. To never allow herself to care so deeply.

Emma's fingernails dug lightly into her scalp as she came, her hips rutting forwards against Regina's mouth as she rode out her orgasm. Lifting her head when the grip finally lessened, Regina knew it was too late. She cared. She cared more than she had ever cared before. She loved. She loved more than she had ever loved before. Except Henry.

Crawling up the panting woman's body, Regina lay atop the blonde, their sweat-slicked skin pressed against one another, Emma's arms coming up to wrap around the slender frame as their lips met, the taste of the blonde's bliss shared on their tongues.

"I love you," Emma mumbled softly.

"I love you too," Regina said. "But please don't die on me again."

"Why not?" Emma said, her fingers now raking up and down the bare skin of Regina's back. "You can just kiss me back to life."

"Because I don't want to live for a moment without you standing beside me," Regina said back. "This is it now, Emma. You and me. Together."

"Together," Emma agreed, kissing the woman softly.

* * *

A/N: As I was watching this episode again, in the final montage with that all too brief moment we get of the SwanMills Family I was overcome with a number of incredibly strong emotions. When the camera panned from Emma to Regina I felt not sadness, but a peculiar mixture of love, reverence and disappointment. The first two are easy to explain – I love these characters and am seeking this sort of connection in a relationship in my own life (without the curses, preferably). Onto disappointment. I know some Once fans never saw SwanQueen but I did and I think those of you reading this note will have done too. The writers, deliberately or otherwise, wrote two incredible, powerful and complimentary female characters and I think we were truly cheated out of our SwanQueen happy ending. I never believed ABC would give us what we wanted. A central lesbian storyline was just not on the cards. But the show teased us for six years. It's heart breaking really. Which is why I'm writing this and why I wrote what I did when Jen announced she was leaving the show. I love SwanQueen. I believe in these characters and in their relationship, even if it was never 'canon' on the screen. And so, as we enter the seventh season, without Emma but with Roni (thoughts?), I will continue to create these stories. SwanQueen is what made me start to write. SwanQueen made me believe in my own talent. SwanQueen has inspired me for over two years and will continue to inspire me. This may have been the last Missed SwanQueen Moment but those who create will never stop being inspired by this pairing. The relationship will endure: in fiction, in art, in our hearts. And isn't that what believing in something is all about?


End file.
